Darkness 2: New Moon
by Hammermaster
Summary: Sequel to Darkness Falls on Mineral Town. Terror grips Forget Me Not Valley as a powerful supernatural force arises. But will it help or destroy them? Chapter 13 The Tremors of Night. Under cover of darkness, evil starts to work.
1. Prologue

**New Moon**

**Prologue**

The twin mountains loomed above the peaceful island of Forget Me Not. Like mystical beings, they rose up above Mineral Island, and towered over the small island below. Then there was a flash. A quick flash. Not many knew what it was, but a chill shot through anyone in the region. One man fell to the ground screaming, and covered his ears in pain. He fell backwards, clawing at the air above him as he screamed, and then lay silent. He was dead, and no logical explanation remained as to why.

Not many saw the flash, but everyone felt a strange presence come upon the region. A dark presence. A couple tourists stood in front of Turtle Swamp to have their picture taken. Then came the flash. After taking the picture, the farmer, who had taken the picture, screamed, and fell to the ground in a state of hysteria. He died two weeks later in a hospital. When the pictures were developed, they were amazed at what they found. To the left of the tourists stood a strange ghostly figure of a girl. Her eyes were cold, ghostly, demonic. On her face there was a faint, cruel smile as she stared back at the photographer as if to say that she was coming for him. The tourists were scared. They left the pictures with the townspeople, and immediately fled the island. Two of the tourists died later, and the third one immediately sold his house, moved away to a foreign country, and changed his name in order to: "prevent the ghost from ever finding me."

What exactly happened that day is unknown. Some say that it was all just a hoax. Others were afraid that Forget Me Not Valley was experiencing paranormal activity that they had never dealt with before. One man said that it was a sign from the Gods that something was going to happen. A fear gently closed upon the village as the people waited for whatever was to come as a result of this power.


	2. Chapter 1 Feel the Pain of Darkness

**Chapter 1 Feel the Pain of Darkness**

_**Hello again everybody. The sequel to 'Darkness Falls on Mineral Town' is finally out. I'm rather excited about how this one is going to turn out. For those of you who haven't read 'DArkness Falls on Mineral Town' I'd recommend that you read it first before reading this one. Sorry that the prologue was so short, but I really didn't think I could make it any longer than it was, so yeah. Well please read and review this chapter.**_

Carter and Flora worked hard in the hot sun which beat down upon them.

"That's enough work for now," Carter said. "Lets go take a break."

Flora nodded, and wiped dirt off of her head. Carter then turned, and the two of them started walking down the pathway back towards the village.

"Did you hear about the farmer?" Carter asked.

"About how he died?" Flora asked. "Yes. That whole story just gives me the creeps."

"I say its a hoax," Carter said. "People do things like this all the time. And I had a dog once just die mysteriously, kind of like that."

"But that was a dog," Flora said. "This was a man. And he died while taking a picture. How often does that happen?"

"I don't know," Carter said.

They continued walking in silence.

"Hey," Flora said, as they crossed the bridge which lead into the village. "Look at that."

Carter looked where she pointed, towards Turtle Swamp.

"What's going on?" he said.

The turtle which lived there was slowly crawling up the hill, away from the swamp. Flora and Carter ran to its side.

"What is it doing?" Carter asked, as the turtle looked up at them with fearful eyes.

"Its leaving the swamp," Flora said. "But why? The Swamp is its home, and the turtle needs water to live in."

"Maybe we should carry it back to the swamp," Carter suggested.

"No," Flora said. "Not after what happened there before. Just let it go where it wants to go. Soon it will get bored, and return to the water."

"We'd better hope so," Carter said. "It walks very slowly."

Carter and Flora walked off from the turtle towards the bar. But the turtle did not get bored and turn back, it kept crawling up the hill feebly, its weak turtle feet slowly pulling itself forward.

"They say his son is going to inherit the farm," Carter said.

"Can we change the subject, please?" Flora begged, taking a fearful look back at Turtle Swamp.

The dark swamp just stood there silently, looking back at her. Its still waters stirred lightly as a black fish gently brushed the surface. A cold wind blew out from the swamp, gently brushing Flora's head like the hand of a ghost. Flora then turned, and ran towards the bar.

"Whats the hurry Flora?" Carter asked, running after her.

* * *

Takakura walked into the farm quietly, followed closely by me. He brushed his black hair back, and squinted his eyes at the bright sun. His bushy eyebrows could make him stand out in any crowd. I followed slowly behind him, my wavy brown hair blowing in the wind. 

"Your father and I built this farm years ago," Takakura said. "We had a dream that we shared. A dream that we held in common."

_But why didn't he ever call me, or send a letter? _Thoughts plagued my mind as I followed Takakura. _Why did he ignore my existence after he divorced my mom. I haven't seen him since I was fourteen. Why?_

"This land is now yours," Takakura said. "He left it to you. This farm is yours. You are free to move here and start a new life."

_But what about my old one? Should it die just like my father did?_

"So what do you think Josh?" Takakura asked. "Are you up to it? Will you at least give it a try?"

I thought about it. I had never farmed before, and from what I heard about it, it wasn't an easy job. But I did want to stay here and see if he could figure out what his father had really meant when he left him with his mother years and years ago.

"Will you give me a day to think about it?" I asked.

"Okay," Takakura nodded.

I then turned, and walked away towards the village. As I walked, my mind spun around all that had happened. I'd gotten a letter just a few days ago telling me that my father had died, and that I had inherited his old farm.

Suddenly I heard a sound. I stopped, and looked around for the source of the noise. Suddenly someone clubbed me in the back of the neck. I gasped, and fell to the ground, stunned by the blow. Then a figure jumped onto my back, pinning me to the ground and holding a stick against the back of my neck.

"I got you now!" the person shouted. "You will... not... escape... What? Oh. Sorry. I thought you were the great white creature who lives up near the spring."

The man got off my back. I coughed, and got up to my feet to face my attacker. What I saw surprised him. It was a wild eyed man dressed in a white coat, with sharp black hair.

"I'm terribly sorry," the man said squinting behind his small glasses. "You see, I was hunting the strange white beast which lives near the Spring, and I thought that you were the white devil."

"What are you talking about?" I asked.

This guy wasn't making any sense. White devil?

"What? Oh! I'm sorry, I don't know you. My name is Daryl. I'm a scientist. As I said, I apologize for attacking you, I was looking for the white creature."

"What white creature?" I asked.

"Don't have time to explain," Daryl said. "I have to go!"

Daryl then turned, and ran away. I shook my head, and started walking away. Ahead I saw a large swamp amidst some trees. I walked up to it and sat down, admiring its beauty. The water in the swamp was calm, and the green water just gently parted as the black shapes of fish moved beneath the surface. A cold wind blew through the trees, chilling me softly. I felt something in the air, a strange dark feeling which made me feel nervous. I took out a small camera, and took a quick picture of the swamp, for it was so very beautiful. But there was something chilling in its beauty. Something that wasn't right.

"Hey!" I turned to see a girl about my age looking over at me.

Her hair was a beautiful brown, as were her eyes. She was wearing a green dress with a tan bandanna on her head and soft brown moccasins on her feet. But her expression looked fearful, and her eyes were wide.

"Get away from there!" she shouted.

"Why?" I asked. "I'm fine here."

"No!" the girl said, her eyes widening even more. "Get away from there right now! Come here!"

I snapped another picture without thinking, and pocketed my camera. I then stood up, and walked over towards the girl. Then, without warning, she grabbed my hand, and ran away from the swamp, pulling me along behind her.

"What are you doing?" I asked, as we ran.

"Getting you away from the swamp," she said.

When they were a fair distance away, the girl stopped, and turned to me.

"Don't go near the swamp," she said. "Bad things have been happening over there."

"What do you mean bad things?" I asked, confused.

"A guy died there just a week ago," the girl said. "He lived on the farm just north of here. Did you know him?"

"He was... that man was..." I stuttered. "That man was my father."

I felt something touch him. Something cold, and dark. I turned, but saw nothing.

"Something touched me!" I said, now freaking out. "What's going on? What's wrong with this island?"

_'It would be wise to fear the darkness!'_

I screamed, and fell backwards to the ground.

_'Yes, you feel me. But you do not see me. Would you like to look upon my face?'_

I felt an icy hand grab his shirt, and slam me to the ground. My eyes widened in fear as I found myself looking up into demonic eyes.

_'Now, feel the pain of the darkness and die!'_

_**The chapters get longer after this one, I just figured that this was a good point to end the chapter. The next two chapters will introduce more characters and get more into the flow of things. Leave a review. Bye.**  
_


	3. Chapter 2 Decision

**Chapter 2 Decision**

_**Okay, this chapter's a little slow as are the next couple, but it will pick up, believe me. It will be a whole lot darker and freakier as we get into it.**_

"Will he be alright?"

"Its lucky you got him to us instead of taking him to Hardy. Otherwise I'm afraid he would have died. You got him to us just in time to save his life."

"Thank you. Oh, and when he wakes up, could you tell him that I brought him here?"

"Alright."

The girl turned, blushing, and walked out of the spring. Three small people about three feet tall looked over the crumpled figure of Josh.

"Did you hear about Clyde?" Griffin asked, scratching his mustache.

Marlin looked up from his drink.

"Don't even talk about it," Marlin said, his cold eyes glaring at Griffin.

Marlin was a rather rude man. His face was cold, and his hair was black. His eyes had a probing look to them. Griffin was the bartender. He was a middle aged brown haired man with a small brown mustache.

"But that is pretty amazing," Griffin said. "People don't just fall over and die like that."

"I said leave it alone," Marlin said.

"I'm sorry Marlin," Griffin said. "I forgot that the two of you were good friends."

Marlin stood up abruptly, pushed his drink aside, and walked out the door. Galen stepped up to the bar.

"You'd better not say things like that to him," Galen said. "He gets very moody. Don't ever speak of someone's dead friend as something light."

"Your right," Griffin said. "I'll apologize to him after he's had a chance to get over it."

Galen nodded. Galen was an elderly man, of about sixty seven years of age. His eyes were downcast, and he was always very serious. He was sad actually, most of the time.

"So what do you think about the tourists?" Galen asked.

"Its a hoax," Griffin said. "There's no ghost living in Turtle Swamp."

"So you'd feel comfortable going out there with me?" Galen asked.

"Comfortable?" Griffin stopped, not feeling at all comfortable to go out near the swamp. "Y-yeah, I guess so."

Galen nodded. "Come with me then."

He stood up and turned for the door. Griffin followed behind him hesitantly. Galen looked back.

"Come on, lets get moving," he said.

"What are you going to do over by the swamp?" Griffin asked.

"I'm going to see if there really is a ghost there," Galen said. "I believe in ghosts you know. I believe that they often try to warn the living about things."

"By killing someone?" Griffin asked.

Galen looked over at him.

"The dead work in mysterious ways," he replied.

Then his eyes grew sad.

"When you've lost someone as I have, you begin to look for their signs every day."

"You think your wife's trying to contact you?" Griffin asked.

Galen looked up at him. "Sometimes I hear voices in the night. They must speak for a reason."

Griffin gave him a weird look.

"Lets go," Galen said, with melancholy eyes.

The two of them walked out the door silently. Griffin felt fear rising up inside of him, and tried to suppress it. Galen just walked on silently, for he was on a mission. When they arrived at Turtle Swamp, Galen reached into his pocket and drew out a small camera. He then began to take pictures. Griffin just stood a fair distance away behind him.

"Haven't you gotten enough pictures Galen?" Griffin asked, wishing to leave.

"Can't be too careful," Galen replied. "What we're searching for is a ghost. Its elusive, easily missed. Our best shot is to take enough pictures in order to figure out if there really is a spirit haunting this swamp."

Galen took more pictures, walked around the swamp, and took more. The cold wind blew against Griffin's face. The cold wind brushed him lightly, causing him to shiver.

"Uh, Galen?"

Galen looked up from his pictures. "What is it?"

The wind grew stronger, and dead leaves blew by through the cold air.

_'Do you feel it?'_ the soft voice carried over on the gentle wind.

"Galen?" Griffin said. "Lets go!"

"One more second," Galen said.

_'It's the sound of darkness.'_

The voice sounded dark and mysterious.

"I'm getting out of here!" Griffin said, before turning and running back for the bar.

"Griffin!" Galen shouted. "Wait!"

Galen put his camera away, and ran after Griffin. In Turtle Swamp the wind stopped, and the dead leaves rustled against the ground for the final time.

Fog. Darkness. Distant voices spoke out, penetrating the shell of clouds. I reached out from the shadows

"You hear me. Come out of the darkness. Rise up from it."

I reached further, seeing a light before me. Suddenly the darkness and fog disappeared, and I found myself looking up into the eyes of a small elf like creature.

"Hey, are you okay?" the little elf asked.

I groaned, and put my hand against my forehead.

"I'm okay," I said. "Who, what are you?"

"I'm Flak," the biggest elf said. "I'm a Harvest Sprites."

"Harvest Sprite?" I said in surprise.

Flak smiled, his yellow outfit shining in the sun.

"We are creatures who share this world with the human race. But we are timid, and few in numbers, so there are few that know of our existence."

"Really?" I looked up as two more Harvest Sprites jumped down from a tree which stood above them. One was red, and the other was blue.

"We are the Harvest Sprites," the blue one said. "I'm Nic."

"I'm Nak," the red one said.

"So what is it that you found again?" Nic asked Flak. "Is this guy some kind of big Harvest Sprite?"

"What's your name?" Nak asked.

"I'm Josh," I said.

"Nice to meet you," Flak said. "Oh, and we're supposed to tell you that Celia brought you here. She says to come by her farm when you're better to see her."

"Whose Celia?" I asked.

"She's a Harvest Sprite," Nak said. "She calls herself 'human' or something. I don't know. She comes up here now and then to visit us, and this spring here."

Nic looked out over the spring.

"She likes to look down into the waters with us," he said. "Celia's a nice girl."

"Guys," Flak said. "Would you mind leaving me alone with Josh for a minute?"

"Okay," Flak said, and he and Nic walked up to the tree, opened a door on the bottom of it, and went inside.

Flak looked up at me. "Forgive them. My brothers are quite naive. They do not know much about the world. That is why they think that you are a Harvest Sprite.

"Celia brought you here and asked us to heal you. And we did. Do you remember what happened?"

I thought hard. Then it hit me. The image of a ghostly face, demonic eyes, and long creepy fingernails. My eyes flashed open in fear.

"I remember something... I remember seeing a ghost. But that seems ridiculous."

Flak looked up at me, interested.

"Keep going," he said.

"It pushed me to the ground, and looked into my eyes. It had... horrible eyes. It told to die."

Flak's face grew worried.

"I knew something was wrong," he said, "but I didn't think it would be this serious."

"What do you mean?" I asked. "What's going on?"

Flak looked up at me.

"I don't know," he said. "We are dealing with some dark power. I don't know of its identity, but you had a close call with it. I fear for the safety of the valley. I fear for the safety of the Island."

"Dark power?" I said.

"Yes," Flak said. "Something from the supernatural."

I stopped. I was not a believer in the supernatural.

"Are you sure," I asked. "I'm not sure I believe in all that."

"Did you ever believe you would see such a sight as that?" Flak asked. "Did you ever think you would come face to face with such a creature?"

"No," I confessed. "I have never really believed in ghosts."

"And yet you saw one," Flak said. "You saw it. It must be something supernatural."

I just stared back at him.

"Are you going to take over your father's farm?" Flak asked me.

"I haven't decided yet," I replied. "And after that, I'm not sure that I want to."

Flak nodded.

"But I fear that the darkness wants you to leave," Flak said. "You are the only one who it has touched and survived. I believe it wants you as far away from this island as possible."

"How is it that I survived, but the others didn't?" I asked, getting freaked out.

"The damage done by whatever this creature is was done to the soul, not to the body. No doctor can treat such wounds. I never knew about the others until it was too late to save them."

I stopped. All of this was a bit much to take in.

"But I'm just a boy," I said. "I'm only twenty years old. I don't even believe in the supernatural."

"Believe boy," Flak said. "Believe."

I turned, and started walking out from the spring.

Vesta looked out at her crops quietly. She sighed in happiness. They were having a good production so far. But recently the farmer on the neighboring farm had died, so competition was down. Vesta hated to admit that their success recently had been because of the death of a man.

"Hello Vesta."

Vesta looked up, and saw Celia peeking around the barn, as if hiding from someone. Vesta chuckled to herself. Celia was sometimes just like a child.

"Hello Celia," Vesta said, knowing from the look in Celia's eyes that she wanted to ask Vesta something.

"So Vesta..." Celia said, stepping out from behind the barn and tapping her heals together nervously. "Did anyone come by today? Anyone looking for me?"

Vesta's chuckle rose to a hearty laugh. Celia blushed, and looked at the ground.

"Expecting a special someone?"

"No!" Celia said quickly. "I was just... wondering."

Vesta nodded, smiling.

"Sure Celia. I believe you. To answer your question, no. No cute guys have been up here lately trying to ask you out. Strange, isn't it. Usually there are like at least five a day."

"Vesta!" Celia said, blushing fiercely.

"I couldn't resist Celia," Vesta said. "But don't worry. Your time will come."

"All I did was ask if anyone had come by wishing to speak with me and you start talking about guys pursuing me?" Celia said, her face very very red.

Vesta just laughed. Celia turned around, and walked back into the house, blushing like a tomato.

I walked out onto my dad's old farm. I silently surveyed the fields, and the empty pasture. A man had lived and died here, and so had his creation. For the fields were bare and empty, and the barn no longer held the abundant amount of livestock that it once had. This farm had one chance to be saved. Me. I was its one chance. I saw a small dog running around in front of the house, and Takakura milking a cow in the field. It had a chance though, a chance to be reborn. Only one cow and a dog held it together, but that might just be enough.

"Takakura," I said.

Takakura looked up from the cow.

"I've made my decision," I said.

_**So what do you think of it so far? Good? Bad? Leave a nice review and I'll see you gentlemen and ladies later.**_


	4. Chapter 3 Great Spirit Thandrana

**Chapter 3 Great Spirit Thandrana**

The night air hung around Turtle swamp like a dark blanket. The area was shrouded in darkness as cold drops of rain fell from the sky. The water pounded upon the earth, plopping into the mossy ground in the swamp, and splashing in the water. The wind blew gently, stirring the steady flow of rain. And as the darkness covered the land, two silent voices could be heard speaking in the darkness.

_'I wonder if I can trust you.'_

_'I wonder the same for you.'_

_'You cost me my home, and my prey. I do not think you are my superior anymore.'_

_'I was the one who lead us here.'_

_'But how long will it take? I grow impatient.'_

_'As do I. But we fail when we act too soon.'_

_'What then is your plan? So far you've made a point of making yourself evil.'_

_'Did I lie?'_

_'No.'_

_'And I'm not sure I'll need to this time. But for now, I must do what I am doing. For the ghosts have a silent, but strong voice.'_

Galen walked through the pouring rain to his tiny shack right next to his wife's grave. As he walked by, he looked at the ancient stone and the words written upon them. They read: "Nina Setira. Beloved wife of Galen Setira. Born February 2, 1935 died May 13, 2006."

Lighting struck, illuminating the stone, in an eerie light. Galen turned to his house, and opened the door quietly.

"Pssst," Galen thought he heard a silent voice behind him whispering.

He turned, and saw no one but the empty gravestone. Lightning flashed again. Galen, seeing no one, turned, and entered his home. All that was left outside was the white gravestone. Suddenly it began to glow in an eerie light.

Back inside his home, Galen lay down in his bed, and fell asleep. But he did not sleep soundly. In the middle of the night he was awoken by the thunder. His eyes opened, but Galen found that he couldn't move. All he could do was move his head slightly left and right. And as he looked from side to side, he heard a silent voice speaking to him.

"Galen, Galen," it said in a creepy feminine way. "Come to me. I'm waiting for you."

Galen shut his eyes in fear, and willed himself to fall asleep again.

"Galen, come to me, be with me."

Galen shivered under his covers as he refused to look into the darkness of his room as the ghostly voice spoke to him.

"Well, its a beautiful day out today. The sun is shining, and the rain has stopped. That's good, after the major electric disturbance we suffered a month ago, we don't need another crisis! Actually there have been a number of deaths recently on Mineral Island..."

I opened my eyes into slits, and found myself looking at an alarm clock which rested on a night stand right next to my bed. Who had authorized that? I sat up, and stretched, my tired muscles sore from who knows what. I got out of bed, and began dressing myself as I continued listening to the radio.

"...some of the deaths have been attributed to heart attacks. But it is not clear if this is the true cause of death. Surprisingly enough, the people of Mineral Island seem to be convinced that the deaths were not caused by something natural, and all of them deny that the deaths could have been caused by heart attacks. More on this later."

I finished dressing myself, and turned off the radio. I then went into the bathroom and splashed water on my face. It was my first day farming, and even now I knew that it would take some getting used to. I stepped out of the house about a half an hour later, and looked up at the sun just barely rising above the surface of the horizon. I looked over at the cow which stood out in the field. First I would have to milk it, and brush it. Luckily Takakura had given me a crash course on how to do all this the night before.

I stepped into the field, and approached the large beast tentatively. The cow regarded me thoughtfully, but let me continue to approach it. I reached a hand out to it, and the beast sniffed it quietly. It then reached down, and took a bite of grass. I took a step towards it again. The cow cocked an eye at me, and then looked away, bored. I began stroking it lightly on the side. The beast didn't seem to mind. I pulled up a chair, put a bucket under its udders, and began milking the gigantic cow. It looked back at me briefly, and then turned away. It just didn't care.

After I finished milking the cow, I went into my tool shed to get the tomato seeds which Takakura had bought for me. I took them out to my field, and planted them in the soft soil. I had to give my old man credit, he had done a good job of keeping the fields weed free. But he hadn't done a good job of taking care of his son. I closed my eyes, and banished my thoughts. They only made things worse.

"Josh," I heard Takakura shout. "Don't forget to go by Vesta's Farm later today and pick up some more seeds. Three tomato plants aren't going to yield much of a profit."

Suddenly my eyes flashed open. I had forgotten to go and visit that girl who I had met over by the Turtle Swamp two nights ago! I immediately stopped planting, and went to the shed to put my tools away. I then ran off to find Vesta's Farm.

Celia sat on her bed, wondering why the boy that she had saved hadn't come to visit her yet. Maybe he wasn't better yet. Maybe he hadn't recovered at all. Celia was getting worried, so she got up, and ran off towards the spring to see if the Harvest Sprites were still taking care of him.

Galen went to the city that day to get his film developed. When he did get it developed, he immediately took it straight home. He looked over each picture carefully, searching for any sign of the supernatural. Then he saw it. In the corner of one of the pictures he saw a small spirit orb glowing in otherworldly light. Galen just stared at the picture in amazement. So there really was a ghost in Turtle Swamp.

Flak watched Mukumuku pacing around the spring. Something was bothering him. Something was wrong.

"What's going on brother?" Nic asked, jumping down from the tree.

"Mukumuku's been acting up lately," Flak replied. "Some thing's bothering him."

Nic looked over and watched Mukumuku passing around. Then he turned back to his brother.

"Mukumuku's just a big fur ball!" Nic said, giggling childishly. "I'm gonna go play with the big fur ball!"

Nic then started running over towards the great white beast, while shouting a mock war cry. Mukumuku looked up in surprise. Then a sort of grin appeared on the great beast's features, and he turned and ran away from Nic. Nic then jumped on his back, and held on tightly as Mukumuku ran.

"I caught you!" Nic shouted, triumphantly holding tightly to the great beast's fur.

Mukumuku was a large white beast with apelike arms which seemed to sprout from the top of its body. Its head was fixed right on its body, and it didn't appear to have much of a neck. The Harvest Sprites called him the Guardian of the Forest.

Mukumuku reached back, grabbed the small Harvest Sprite off his back, and threw him into the spring. Mukumuku jumped up and down while waving his arms over his head excitedly. Nic's head popped up from under the spring water.

"No fair!" he protested.

"Mukumuku!" Mukumuku cried, for he was named for the sound he made.

Nic climbed out of the spring, and walked over to the large beast. He then looked out at the Spring.

"You know Muku," Nic said. "They say that if you take good care of a spring then a Harvest Goddess will come to live in it. Do you think we could get a Harvest Goddess to live in this spring?"

The Guardian of the Forest's eyes widened.

"They say the spring has to be wonderful though," Nic said. "Maybe we could get a wonderful and put it in the water, and then a Goddess would come. Wouldn't that be great?"

Mukumuku reached down, picked up the tiny Harvest Sprite, and placed him gently on his back. Then, the beast turned, and walked back towards the tree. Mukumuku then picked up Flak and placed him on his back. Then, without warning Mukumuku turned, and charged towards the spring.

"Mukumukumuku!" the mighty beast cried.

Flak and Nic yelled at the top of their lungs. Then Mukumuku jumped, and cannonballed right into the water, causing it to splash out in all directions. Nic and Flak popped back up above the surface, laughing.

"Did the big puddy tat just want to swim?" Nic said in a cutesy voice.

Mukumuku broke the surface, and swung his arm around, sending a wave of water upon the two Sprites. Nic and Flak laughed, and threw tiny splashes back at Mukumuku.

"Wait for me!" they looked, and saw Nak running out of their tree home towards the Spring. He then jumped, diving into the spring, splashing water upon his friends.

All four of them swam around in the spring for a while, until they got tired, and climbed out and layed down to let the sun dry their clothes out.

"I tell you guys," Nak said. "The spring water always seems so pure and fresh."

"Hello Harvest Sprites," Flak looked up and saw Celia walking into the forest.

"Its Celia!" Nic shouted like a child who is announcing that Santa gave them presents on Christmas morning.

Mukumuku jumped up to his feet.

"Hi Muku," Celia said. "So Flak, did the boy that I brought here ever get better?"

"Josh did," Flak said. "He went home."

Celia frowned.

"That's odd," she said. "Didn't you tell him to come see me after he got better."

"Of course we did," Flak said. "Remember, he's been through a lot, he probably just forgot."

I walked into the forest quietly. I had gone to the farm where I had met Vesta, the owner. When I asked for Celia she got all excited and said that she knew that she was right. I didn't understand it, but Vesta told me that Celia had gone to the spring, so that's where I was going.

As I walked through the forest I listened to the birds chirping in the trees. But they did not sing happy songs of spring. Their voices held a darker tone of warning. Then I noticed a flock of birds fly across the island from the direction of the swamp. They were flying to the forest to take refuge.

My attention was drawn from the birds when I heard voices further up in the woods. One I recognized as Flak's voice, but the other was the voice of a girl. Maybe it was Celia. I stopped. How exactly was I going to approach her? I had never been very good at befriending girls, or even just talking to them, so I really didn't know what to do in this situation. I took a deep breath, and stepped into the clearing.

"Oh hi Josh," Flak said, upon seeing me.

"Hello," I said, smiling slightly.

"It's Josh!" Nic and Nak both cried.

Celia whirled around in surprise.

"Hi," I said timidly.

"How... how are you feeling?" Celia asked.

"I'm okay," I said. "I'm still a bit shaken. Oh, I never got a chance to thank you for getting me to the Harvest Sprites."

She smiled modestly before extending a hand.

"I'm Celia," Celia said.

"Josh," I said, taking her hand, and shaking it.

Her fingers were warm. She released my hand, blushing slightly, and turned towards the Harvest Sprites.

"Word of what is going on has been going around," Flak said with a frown. "People seem to be expecting something great to happen. Many think it is a sign from the gods or something."

"I don't think its a sign from any god," I said. "I saw that creature's face. It was... horrible. I don't think a God would do something like that to me without reason."

"I know," Flak said. "Did you notice the birds? They are leaving the swamp, fleeing to the woods."

"I did notice," I replied.

"And the turtle," Flak nodded towards his two brothers. "Can you give us a hand with him?"

"What turtle?" I asked.

"Come, I'll show you," Flak replied, running down the path on his tiny little feet.

Celia and I followed the small Harvest Sprite. As we walked, I felt the soft wind of the valley brush against us gently, causing Celia's beautiful brown hair to blow up in the soft breath of air. A soft kiss of what was good. I looked away from the beautiful girl beside me when she noticed me looking. She was beautiful, to say the least.

Flak lead me to a turtle which was slowly pulling its way up the hill into the forest. Its eyes looked sorrowful, like those of a dog, or a cat, when they are sad. It looked very tired, as if the turtle had been up the whole night working its way up the hill.

"This turtle lives in the turtle swamp," Nic said. "But he doesn't like it their anymore because of all the strange things that have been happening. So he's trying to get into the forest to the spring, cause its safe there. But he's slow, and he's been working all night. We'd carry him there, but he's too heavy. Can you help us?"

I looked into the turtle's sad eyes, and my decision was made. I lifted up the turtle, and began carrying it up the hill.

Celia watched Josh carry the the turtle up the hill. She smiled. Well, at least he seemed kind and caring. But she didn't know him very well yet. Her aunt always was pressuring her to find the perfect husband, so much that she tried setting her up with people. Celia wondered if Josh may be the man she was looking for.

He was cute, and had a childlike face which attracted her. He seemed like a soft kind of person, not one of those tough arrogant men whom she often saw putting on a "macho" act. Josh seemed different. He didn't look like one to act better than others, he seemed more humble. And she admired that in a guy. Suddenly she became aware that Nik was looking at her. Celia turned red, and turned away from Josh, embarrassed that she had been starring at him. Nik smiled, and turned away.

I carried the turtle through the forest and gently lowered him in front of the spring. He crawled forward, and began drinking the spring water. Drinking the water seemed to calm him, cure him of his sadness, and before I knew it, the Turtle closed its eyes, and went to sleep.

"Wow," Flak commented. "He must have been very tired."

"Then why didn't he stop to rest?" I asked.

Flak gave me a blank look.

"I don't know," he said. "The turtle seemed pretty determined to get out of the swamp, even though the swamp is his natural home. I guess he'll have to stay here with us in the Spring from now on."

"I guess so," I said.

"Mukumuku?" I looked up, and saw a strange white beast walk out from the forest, staring at me.

"What the..."

"Oh Josh," Nic said, looking at the white beast. "Forgot to introduce you to Mukumuku."

Flak must have noticed my surprise, for he began trying to explain it to me.

"He's the guardian of the forest," Flak said. "We don't know what he is, or where he came from, but he entered this forest three years ago, and has stayed with us ever since."

"I see," I said, eying the strange white beast.

The cold wind blew across the swamp, chilling the cold earth like the hand of darkness. In the swamp cold hands seemed to reach up from the green waters, reaching for the sky. A cold aura filled the air as a faint ghostly figure stepped across the cold waters. Its feet sent no ripples through the water, and its hair seemed to blow in an eternal wind. Its eyes were piercing and ghostlike, and they seemed to reach out from the swamp like a cold hand of fear. Darkness was truly coming, but what form would it take?

Galen sat in front of the large swamp, looking out across the moonlit waters. His eyes looked sad, but at the same time, extremely interested.

"Who are you?" he spoke, as if to the dark water of the swamp.

_'I am a great being from far away, sent to watch over this town as its guardian.'_

"Do you have a name?" Galen asked. "A title? Are you a Goddess?"

_'I am the Harvest Go-'_

"Harvest what?" Galen asked.

_'No, that was one of my former lives. Now I am the Great Spirit Thandrana. When you're this high on the scale of nirvana, you tend to relapse to your past lives.'_

"Tell me Thandrana," Galen said. "What are you going to do as the town's guardian?"

_'I will guide the people down the path of righteousness, towards their next lives, until they become a Spirit like me.'_

"So you're hear to help," Galen said. "Then is there anything I can do to help?"

_'Well... yes. The swamp is not where I want to be. I have my sites set on a domain which closely resembles one that I lived in on another island that I guided until it grew great. I have my sights set the spring in the forest. It would be a good home for me. And when I reach the spring I can rest, and then the entire town will be my territory, and I will help everyone. Right now all I have is this swamp.'_

"Right," Galen said. "Anything else?"

_'Well, I could use an assistant, and I do believe that you are in need of a guardian spirit.'_

Galen nodded.

"Do you know how my wife is doing? I get visited by her spirit every night."

_'She is fine, but she misses you.'_

"I miss her too," a tear slowly rolled down Galen's cheek.

Suddenly Galen felt the presence leave.

"Thandrana?" he said.

But there was no response. She had gone. Galen stood up, and walked away.


	5. Chapter 4 Blood in the Water

**Chapter 4 Blood in the Water**

My sleep was restless. At midnight it felt like a cold hand had clutched my heart. I was not fully conscious at the time. But at one o'clock I awoke, and felt a dark presence around me. My dreams were dark ones, visions of evil, visions of demons. Then, before I knew it, soft sunlight was pouring in through my window, and birds were chirping happily outside. The morning had come.

"It should be sunny today, but tomorrow it will be partly cloudy with a slight chance of rain."

I sat up in my bed, letting the radio play on.

"Forget-Me-Not seems to have been having some disturbances with electrical signals. Some have attributed this to the recent amount of supernatural activity in the region. But so far there is no evidence to support the idea that there really is a ghost in the valley."

I stopped, listening closely to the radio.

"On the same subject, recently there has been a dramatic shift of religious opinion on Mineral Town. The majority people there have suddenly given up their beliefs in the local belief in a Harvest Goddess and have converted to Christianity. A violent struggle happened last month where in the process the Pastor of the Goddess' Church was killed, and a zealous Goddess worshiper was murdered. John Formal from Cassius Island speaks his opinion, and I quote: "It really is sad what people do for there religions. In the crusades the Islams and the Jews were persecuted, in the Inquisition they were persecuted, and now a group of Christians rapidly converts an island and take away the people's belief in the Harvest Goddess. If only they would learn to be accepting of other's beliefs. And they even killed the Priest.""

I shook my head. Stupid religious wackos.

"It has been found that the Priest was killed by a man named Won, guessed to be a part of the Christians. But he died in the chaos as well. Many people in the town say that Won was a major Goddess worshiper, but that doesn't make much sense."

I turned off the radio, and slowly started getting dressed. I thought about the previous day. Celia was nice, but she had a look in her eyes as if she wanted to say something to me, but didn't know how to say it.

I shrugged, and stepped out of my home. The sun was just barely creeping up the sky. It was still early. I milked my cows, and watered the crops I had recently planted. This farm work was already taking its toll on me. I had started getting up earlier, working in the mornings and evenings, and taking the afternoons for breaks, due to the heat. I occasionally went to the bar for a drink, or went down to the sea for a swim.

I'd gotten to know some of the town's people. Today I had to stop by Vesta's farm to pick up some seeds. I also hoped to pick up a certain girl who lived there. I finished my morning chores, before mounting the horse which Takakura had ordered for me, and riding off in the direction of the plantation.

The horse walked down the path obediently, walking slowly. Its silver horseshoes clomping against the ground. I had yet to find it a good name. I patted the horse's chestnut flank and it snorted in response.

"Chestnut," I said. "That's what I'll call you."

"A good name for a good horse," I looked up in surprise to see Flak walking down the path from the forest towards me.

"Flak?" I said in surprise. "What are you doing? I thought that you didn't leave the forest?"

"I don't leave the forest unless I really need to," Flak said. "And I feel that I really need to now. Someone needs to face down the dark presence within the swamp. I fear it grows too strong."

I sighed, and looked away.

"Did you hear?" I said. "Some guy claims that the power which has settled upon the swamp is really good, we just had misunderstandings with it."

"Not misunderstandings," Flak said. "This is no good creature. Believe me when I say that to you."

"I don't know what to believe," I turned, and rode off towards the plantation.

I knew that Flak was trying to do what was right, but his over acceptance of the supernatural kind of scared me. Sure, I had seen the ghost's face, but hadn't many people? What if people had misinterpreted its meaning. I had heard many say that all creatures supernatural existed, that all religions were right in their own way. If that were true than this could be a god. A god come to help us. And it was obvious that the gods of the many religions worked in different ways, so this one may have thought that I was bad at first and tried to kill me. I didn't know. It was twisted, and I still didn't understand. What if it was evil? A demon. A dark creature from some ancient religion.

I shook my head and cleared out all thoughts of the ghostly creature. Right now I was going to see Celia, so I wanted to be calm by the time I got there.

* * *

An island of questions, floating on a puzzle of a sea. Near it stood a shining beacon, but the island did not see the light. But somewhere on that island, a tiny piece of darkness throbbed, like a heart. It stretched, and then grew, swallowing up a small part of the land with it. No light shone to make it flee, no light made it disappear, and it got larger. Nothing could stop the encroaching shadow as it moved across the doomed land and began to claim it as its own. It was taking the land. Making it no longer land, but a dark domain. Evil was coming.

* * *

"Oh Celia?"

Celia looked up from the book she was reading.

"Celia?"

"Yes Vesta?" Celia replied.

"There's some boy here to see you!"

Celia stopped. She knew who it was without even going down to see. It was Josh. He had come to see her. She stopped. The relationship between the two of them had not developed much since the time Celia found him standing by Turtle Swamp, and she wanted that to change.

"Coming Vesta," Celia turned to a mirror, and straitened her hair out before turning for the stairs.

* * *

"I'm not Celia's mom now, don't you go thinking that," I just smiled as Vesta kept speaking. "Her mother and father sent her to live with Marlin and I in hopes that she would find a good husband out here."

Vesta winked at me when she said this. I blushed. She hadn't stopped talking since I had arrived.

"Her parents are trying to set her up with this guy they know who they think would be a perfect match for her. But Celia's unsure of this."

I sighed happily. I didn't know Celia very well, but she was a petty girl, and I hoped that maybe...

"Coming Vesta!" I stopped when I heard Celia's voice.

"Ah, here she is now," Vesta said with a grin.

Celia came running down the stairs.

"Ah," Vesta said. "Celia. This gentleman is here to see you."

I smiled.

"Hi Celia."

"Oh, hi Josh," she said, smiling prettily.

"I was wondering if you could help me with something," I said.

"What do you need help with?" Celia asked.

"My crops," I replied.

It was true. I didn't know exactly where to plant them and when.

"I don't know what crops to plant," I said.

"Well its spring," Celia said. "So you should plant tomatoes and watermelons."

"Thanks," I said. "I also just came to say hi."

Celia smiled at me pleasantly.

"If you'd like I'll help you plant your first batch."

I nodded.

"Thanks."

"Come on then," Celia walked over, took my hand, and started walking in the direction of my farm.

This sudden display shocked me, but I realized that in a small town like this such a thing might be common, holding a girl's when going places with her regardless of whether you were dating or not. So I tried to conceal my embarrassment and continued walking. When we arrived at my farm I showed her my field and my tools. Celia spent the next half an hour helping me plant and water my crops.

"Always make sure there is enough space between the crops," she said as she instructed me as to how far apart they should be. "Never plant them too close together or they won't grow as tall."

I nodded, listening closely as she showed me how to use the hoe to break up the dirt and finally how to plant the seeds. Soon I was using the hoe to break up the soil and putting seeds in it. Celia clapped as I finished planting my garden. I wiped the sweat off of my brow and smiled over at her.

"Not bad," she said smiling back.

I nodded happily.

"Thanks for the help," I said.

She flushed lightly, and smiled.

"Come on," she said, gesturing at me. "Lets go to the Bar. They have parties outside at this time of night."

"Parties?" I cocked my head to the side.

"Yeah," Celia nodded. "This area was populated heavily with Irish immigrants escaping the potato famine way back in the past. Much of their culture has stayed with us. Griffin is rather proud of his Irish ancestry, so he plays Irish music outside at night."

"Irish music?" I asked.

Celia nodded.

"Come on," she said. "Take me dancing."

"Okay," I smiled slightly, took her hand, and started walking back towards the town.

* * *

'_Thirst. Thirst for blood. Feed us, we desire blood.'_

The moonlight on the silent ripples in the swamp cast a spooky glow on the floor of the swamp.

_'To live we must feed. Devour, feed us. More. We need more.'_

A man walked along the shore of the swamp.

_'Food. We crave food. Blood. The blood that drives us.'_

The man knelt beside the lake.

_'Food.'_

Suddenly a decayed hand shot up from the waters and grabbed the man by the neck. He didn't even have time to shriek before the hand pulled him forward into the swamp. He struggled in the water as it pulled him under, shrieking and splashing his arms everywhere. More decayed swamp hands shot out, latching onto him, dragging him down further. The water muffled his desperate screams. Unreal! There was a cry, a dead screech, then the water of the swamp turned red. The man's body lay still, lying face down in the swamp. Then he sank down into the water, as if pulled by an unseen hand down into the maw of a monster. They swallowed their prey, taking in the pleasure, but it didn't quench the thirst.

_'More... more... more...'

* * *

_

The Irish band played through the night as we danced around the fire, Celia and I. Its glow cast a feeling of warmth on the surrounding area, the music enveloping everything. I was vaguely aware of a sound as we danced, a sound like someone screaming something. It must have been one of the instruments. All that mattered was I was dancing with this beautiful girl in the firelight as life passed by, beautifully moving, transforming, dying.

_**Freaky? Yes? It'll get freakier. Romantic? A little, it'll get more romantic. Enjoyable to read? It'll get better.**_


	6. Chapter 5 Flowers and Promises

**Chapter 5 Flowers and Promises**

I awoke the next morning to the crimson sunlight shining through my window. Birds chirped at my window, as if they were trying to speak to me.

"Good morning. It is now seven thirty and is a beautiful day outside. To-"

I shut off the radio. Slowly I rose and dressed myself before walking outside to begin my morning chores.

"Josh," Takakura said suddenly. "Since you've decided to stay here in Forget Me Not Valley then I should probably introduce you to some of the townspeople in this area that you haven't met yet."

I nodded. That was probably a good idea.

"Come then," Takakura said.

He lead me back into town. He introduced me to the local athlete, Wally and his wife Chris, and son Hugh. I also met Carter the Archaeologist, Flora his assistant, Romana the rich old lady who lived in a mansion, Griffin, the owner of the Blue Bar, and his assistant Muffy.

When we were done I decided to go visit Celia at Vesta's farm. When I got there she was standing beside the fields looking out over them. I walked up beside her and we started talking.

"I love working on the farm," Celia said.

I nodded my head in agreement.

"I do too," I said. "It gives me the feeling that I've accomplished something."

Celia smiled at me shyly.

"Well I suppose you've inherited that from your father then."

I said nothing. I wanted to tell her that I wasn't anything like my father, but I couldn't.

"Are you okay?" she asked, seeing how those words had affected me.

"Yeah," I put on a smile. "I'm fine."

Celia looked back out over the fields.

"I like working with plants, because I think it gives me extra strength," she laughed. "Does that sound childish to you?"

"Not really," I said.

She smiled at me.

"Thanks Josh," she replied. "It doesn't seem like many people take me seriously in this town. Everyone thinks I'm just a childish little girl."

"I don't think that at all," I said.

"I want you to become our guardian spirit."

_'You do, but you are only one person. I need something more than just that.'_

"What, do you need the whole town to vote on it or something?"

_'No. That is not necessary. I need to establish myself as the guardian of this island. To do this I need a place to call my own.'_

"The swamp. The swamp is yours."

_'The swamp is the lowest part of the town. I need to work myself up. I need to make my way from the swamp to the spring. The spring in the forest at the top of the hill. If I control the spring, then the island will be under my control.'_

Galen scratched his head and thought about this silently.

"Can't you just go there right now?"

_'Forces in the forest drive me away. I need to grow strong enough first. I need energy. I need a new place for my children to live.'_

"Your children?"

_'Yes. Surely you don't think I came here alone.'_

"Oh. Well there is a vacant room in the inn, if that's what you mean."

Silence. Galen looked back into the still waters of the swamp, now emptied of any presence.

"Thandrana?"

She had gone.

A dark scream filled the air as the final word was delivered. The demon struggled to hold tightly to its prey but found that it could not, for the forces of light drove it away. It shrieked once more, before falling away from its prey for the final time that night.

"In the name of the father, the son, and the Holy Ghost I command you to leave this boy and go to the Abyss!"

The demon fell, the scream died out, and silence filled the room. Slowly Cliff lifted his head up from the hard ground and looked up at the bearded man who stood above him. He was dressed in a brown friar like robe with a cross on a chain hanging around his neck.

"Its over Cliff," he said. "Its gone."

"Thank you Gotz," Cliff said quietly, rising back up to his feet before turning for the door.

"What are you planning to do now?" Gotz asked.

Cliff looked back at Gotz quietly, his face downcast.

"Well there's nothing for me anymore," Cliff said. "I'm leaving town."

"Why?" Gotz asked.

"I put my trust in the voice, and then in the Goddess," Cliff said, "and then realized that both of them were deceiving me. I don't... I just can't stay here anymore..."

"What about your friends," Gotz said. "Your human friends. What about Zach and Ann? They were you're friends."

"They're getting married now," Cliff said. "Give them my regards, tell them I'm sorry I won't be able to see the wedding."

Tears were coming to Cliff's eyes. He turned and walked out of the door before Gotz could protest.

"You haven't accepted Jesus, have you?" Gotz said as he walked out the door behind Cliff.

Cliff stopped walking and shook his head.

"Not everyone's against you Cliff," Gotz said. "Jesus isn't. Come on, give him a chance!"

"Not everyone heals as quickly as you do Gotz," Cliff said. "Jesus has no place in my life."

"Jesus can help you heal," Gotz said.

"Nice knowing you Gotz," with that Cliff walked away, down the hill in the direction of the beach.

"Farewell Cliff," Gotz said softly after Cliff was out of earshot. "And may God bless you. But God won't bless you until you find him."

A tear rolled down the pastor's cheek as he turned and walked back up to the church.

I gazed out over the river with Celia standing beside me. I felt the urge to reach out and take her hand in mine, but I was afraid. Afraid that she might not return my feelings. True, we had already held hands, but only when going from place to place, not when we were just together.

"Has anything else happened concerning the uh..." I struggled for words, "the thing in the swamp?"

"No," Celia said. "I'm still afraid to go near the swamp though, especially after what happened to you..."

I shivered. I was also afraid to go near it because of that.

"What are we going to do about... whatever it is?" I asked.

"I don't know," Celia sighed. "Pray, I guess."

"To which god?" I said sarcastically.

Before she could answer Vesta suddenly started calling for Celia.

"Celia! Celia!" She then spotted us standing by the river. "Oh there you are! And you too Mr. Josh! Good. You two better come with me. A town meeting has been called."

"Really?" Celia looked surprised.

I took it that town meetings only occurred under circumstances of great importance. The three of us walked into town to see a large procession gathered around a podium on which an elderly man stood.

"Who is that?" I asked Celia.

"That's Galen," she said. "He's been a recluse ever since his wife died. I'm surprised that he called the town meeting."

I shrugged and we walked up to the back of the crowd to see what was going on.

"Good afternoon everybody," Galen said loudly, and the crowd grew quiet. "I've called this meeting to discuss the strange events which have plagued our village over the last few weeks."

He stopped for a second, as if letting the words sink in.

"Many strange things have happened that have caused fear among us. Is it a vengeful spirit? A sign from the Gods? The beginning of the apocalypse? My fellow islanders, it is none of these. I bring to you good news."

I looked up in surprise. Good news?

"This is no vengeful spirit," he said. "This is no sign of evil! No. It is the opposite. This, ladies and gentlemen, is a sign of glad tidings. A spirit has come to live among us, a good spirit. She desires only to be our friend and help us. Her name is Thandrana."

The people in the crowd began murmuring among themselves. Some appeared to take in every word the man said, while others seemed skeptical.

"Good spirit?" Griffin suddenly asked. "From what I saw when we went to the swamp I would never have guessed that it was something good."

"That's where you were wrong," Galen said. "That's where we all were wrong. You don't believe me? Then I'll just let the spirit speak for herself."

Suddenly a figure began to materialize beside Galen. The crowd began to gasp in awe as a beautiful green haired woman began to take shape.

"I am Thandrana!" she announced. "The Great Spirit. I have come here to be you're friend, to help you and guide you."

The crowd was speechless. Thandrana suddenly tore a splinter out of the pulpit and threw it up into the air, where it turned into a fish. She caught the fish and threw it into the audience. When it landed it was an apple.

"My powers are great," she said. "I come to you in peace. You all must choose to follow me and my powers will work alongside you. If you accept me then I can take my place as guardian over this island and help you forever."

She nodded at Galen suddenly, who climbed down from the pulpit and began passing out flowers to the people in the crowd. But the flowers weren't normal, for their petals were drawn shut as if it were night.

"The flower is the greatest representation of nature," Thandrana said. "It grows every spring after the cold of winter has gone. I take the flower as my sign. Take it with you home. Put it in a glass of water and let it grow. Take care of my flowers, and I will take care of you."

Thandrana then gazed over the audience, before making eye contact with me. I stepped back, and gasped, for I had seen those eyes before. With that Thandrana disappeared.

"She lives in the Turtle Swamp," Galen explained. "But soon she will move. Thandrana is here to help. Come to the swamp to speak with her whenever you want to."

With that, Galen turned and walked away. Slowly the crowd began to disperse, most taking they're flowers with them. But Celia and I threw ours on the ground. We didn't trust Thandrana.


	7. Chapter 6 Reinforcements

**Chapter 6 Reinforcements**

_**First of all, I am so sorry about the problem with changing point of views. Originally I put lines between them, but I kept forgetting to, but now I will make more of an effort to do that. Yeah, and I should say that while this story might not be all that interesting right now, keep reading because I am definately sure you will love what I've written in the further chapters. Wait another two or three chapters, and I'll be dropping the ball of freakiness.**_

That day Thandrana was the subject of every conversation. Griffin kept her flower in a glass cup of water right at the front of his bar, and many of his customers would see it and ask him what he thought of the Spirit.

"I don't know," he said truthfully. "I've been an atheist for years, but I can't deny that I saw some things that definitely shouldn't have happened."

"Magic tricks," Patrick and Kassey, the old firework makers had said. "Hoaxes and child's play, that's all it is. We don't believe in Spirits, we believe in Science."

And they had left, leaving Griffin alone in his bar. He absentmindedly dusted the counter while his muddled mind journeyed over everything that had happened. Had the spirit been the one who killed the farmer? And if so, why?

"Griffin," he looked up to see Muffy, his waitress, standing there. "You look troubled. Why don't you take the day off. I'll watch over everything."

Griffin nodded slowly.

"Thank you," he said.

Muffy brushed her golden blond hair back and smiled, before stepping behind the counter. Griffin turned for the door. He would meet with this Thandrana and ask her himself. Muffy continued dusting off the counter top. Business was slow today, for after Thandrana's demonstration few people journeyed very far from they're homes. They were all a bit shaken, and everyone was not sure what to believe anymore. Muffy had been a devout Jew all her life, but the stuff the spirit demonstrated made her think twice. She knew that due to they're pagan ancestors, and the religious influences from Japan, many of the natives of the Valley were not that surprised. She knew that Galen often spoke of Gods and Goddess' and the like.

However on the other side of the coin the stream of Irish immigration had brought a lot of Catholic influence upon the Valley. She knew that Marlin was a devout Catholic. Vesta had been raised Catholic along with Marlin, but had rejected it and all religion when she grew older. There were many people in the village whom she had no idea about what they believed. Romana, for instance, and her granddaughter Lumina. Sometimes even in a small town you don't know little things about people.

What she did know was that Forget Me Not Valley would never be the same after this. Thandrana had affected everyone no matter if they believed what she said or not. Things were about to change around there and who knew where the humble Valley would end up.

* * *

When night came Griffin came to help Muffy with the sizable late crowd. He never told her how his meeting with Thandrana had turned out.

"She seems like a good person, er spirit," Wally said, sipping his drink.

"I'm going to see her today to talk with her," Cody replied. "Imagine, a higher being, right here in Forget Me Not Valley. And I thought that nothing interesting ever happened here."

Muffy walked over and handed both of them their drinks.

"So what do you think Muffy?" Carter asked.

"I have to say I don't know," Muffy said. "She says she'll help us if we keep her flower, so I'm keeping it."

"Heck with it," Patrick said rubbing his nearly bald head. "No flower's gonna help anyone. She's just a trickster whose got this town in the hold of a clever practical joke. Either that or Grant had us all up on heroine."

He and his twin brother Kassey laughed, they're musty gray mustaches jerking back as they grinned. Wally rolled his eyes impatiently at the strangeness of the two brothers.

"Why don't you guys go hit on Muffy," Carter suggested.

"Oh that's a good idea," Kassey said laughing.

"Hey!" Muffy protested. "They're both like over twenty years older than me."

Huffing and guffawing the two eccentrics lumbered out of the bar, leaving behind an unpleasant smell of gunpowder.

"Those guys are really getting on my nerves," Wally said.

Cody finished his drink and left.

"Well I'm going to go make sure Hugh isn't getting into trouble," Wally said, standing up.

"It's getting late, so I should go too," Carter stood up and followed him.

They stepped out of the bar and bumped right into a fuming bloodshot eyed man in a white lab coat. In the darkness they could barely recognize him had it not been for the significantly bright moonlight.

"Daryl," Carter said in surprise.

The sight of Carter seemed to infuriate the scientist even more.

"Carter," he said unpleasantly.

"Still trying to catch the white demon?" Carter asked.

Wally stifled a chortle, receiving a glare from Daryl.

"Why yes," Daryl glowered. "Still digging up ancient crap?"

Carter's eyes narrowed.

"Still dabbling around with electricity?"

"Still 'studying' with Flora in you're free time?" Daryl made quotation symbols with his hands as he said 'studying.'

Carter was stunned.

"Why you insolent scoundrel! At least my work is dignified!"

"At least I don't go hitting it with my assistant!"

They stopped and just glared at each other for a while. Carter then turned to leave.

"I don't want to talk to you, you sad excuse for a scientist."

"Look whose talking mister 'there's gotta be gold around here somewhere.'"

Carter walked off in silence while Daryl proceeded to perform cruel, but rather hilarious impressions of Carter at work.

"Maybe over here," he said in a stupid sounding voice. "Or over there. Or maybe, right THERE!"

Daryl ran around in a circle before stopping and looking around.

"Oops," he said giggling dumbly. "Looks like I dwopped my shovel again! Shucks."

Wally shook his head and walked away. Once Daryl got bored of poking fun at Carter he stood up and walked back in the direction of his home by the swamp.

* * *

_'Are you sure this will work?'_

_'I am certain. This town is on the verge of spiritual decay. Everything will fall in place as soon as I start working.'_

_'But you do know that we don't control the weather over the entire island.'_

_'Everyone who took my flower has signed themselves out as my servant. So therefore as of now I control quite a significant area on this island.'_

_'But what of the other part?'_

_'The other part will soon be mine as well. But we must not rush to it, we must work slowly.'

* * *

_

I lead my cow out from my barn and into the open field. The cold night air brushed against us as we moved out into the field. I brushed its side as the beast munched absentmindedly on some grass. As I brushed my cow I glanced out into the forest. The forest was always silent. Birds lived in it, but they rarely chirped. Which was weird, because when I saw them in other parts of the village they chirped all the time. Except at the swamp. But that's because there was never anything living there except for the fish. The swamp and the forest were truly mysterious places, for when I walked within each I felt something that was different, almost spiritual.

In the swamp I found a dark presence that nearly killed me, but in the forest I felt something different. Something that wasn't dark, but was scary. The silence frightened me, as if a mighty power was lurking within. I didn't know what it was, but I was afraid of it, afraid of its power, afraid of what it could mean. I didn't know which scared me more, the swamp, or the forest. All I knew was that right now the swamp was more dangerous, or so I thought.

"Hello Josh," I looked up to see an elderly man walking towards me from the village.

"Hi," I said, "Galen, right?"

The man nodded and gazed over at my cow.

"How's you're farm been producing?" he asked.

I looked from my one cow to my small plot of crops. I turned back to Galen and smiled unpleasantly.

"Its not very prosperous yet," I confessed.

"Thandrana can fix that," he said.

The hair on my back stood on end as I looked up at the strange old man, standing there possessed with the new Spirit.

"I've seen her do great things for people already," he said quietly, a strange darkness hidden behind his friendly eyes. "She can help. Believe me, she can help."

His eyes lured me in, drawing me towards the darkness, but I jerked away.

"No," was all I said. "No."

Galen stared at me again, but I turned and looked away. With that he turned, and walked out of my farm. I continued brushing my cow as if nothing had happened. She bit into a large flower, and continued munching.

* * *

"So why didn't you keep the flower?" Vesta asked for the fifth time that night.

Celia rolled her eyes and looked back at Vesta.

"Because I don't believe in her!" she shouted angrily.

"How can you not believe in her?" Vesta asked. "She appeared before us all."

"I've told you before Vesta," Celia said, calmer this time. "I believe in God, I don't believe in great Spirits that watch over us, just one, God."

It was Vesta's time to roll her eyes.

"Religious bull-crap," she murmured. "My parents tried getting me into that stuff when I was a kid. They got Marlin, but I quit going to church in high school."

Celia had heard this story. How her parents had tried forcing her to go to Church and to go to confession and stuff like that. Celia was a strong Christian girl, as many country people are. Vesta had been raised Catholic, but had turned against all religion when she rebelled against her teachings. Marlin grumpily entered the room and slumped down on the couch.

"Oh hi Malin," Vesta said. "We were just talking about you."

"Nothing bad I hope," Marlin mumbled, before turning the TV on.

"I wasn't talking about him," Celia protested, before storming out the door.

Outside, Celia let loose a frustrated sigh before walking off in the direction of the forest. Vesta and her had had they're arguments about religion before, for Vesta was such a hard edged atheist that she took every chance that was available to bash religion. But now that Thandrana had come Vesta had come one with more strength and with more anger than before.

* * *

I finished my farm work early that evening, so I decided to go into town to see the people I hadn't met yet. My first stop was the local inn.

"Hello Josh," a humble looking Japanese man said upon my entrance. "I am Tim, the owner of the inn. And this is my wife Ruby."

A short haired Japanese girl stood beside him. I nodded to both of them.

"Nice to meet you both," I said.

Tim brushed his black hair back before looking over at the stairs.

"I just came here to meet you guys, and anyone else who might be staying here," I explained. "Is there anyone staying here right now?"

"There's our son Rock," Ruby said. "But he's off visiting Lumina right now."

"There is Nami," Tim said.

"What's that about me?"

I looked up suddenly and saw a straight faced redhead walking down the stairs slowly.

"Oh there you are Nami," Ruby said smiling. "This is Josh, the new owner of the Farm. Lets see, what's its name?"

"Shadow Ranch," Tim explained.

"That's right," Ruby said. "Remember, the old farmer died."

Nami nodded coldly and brushed her bangs out of her face.

"Well its good to meet you Nami," I said, extending a hand.

Nami didn't take my hand. She nodded to me quietly.

"Excuse me if I don't shake hands," she said, before walking out the front door.

I watched her leave, feeling snubbed.

"Don't worry about it Josh," Tim said. "Nami always acts that way around people she doesn't know. She's a traveler, a real loner."

"Yeah," Ruby interrupted. "She came here last year, telling us she didn't plan on staying, that she was just passing through. Apparently she moves from place to place, and from island to island."

"We don't know if she has any family," Tim said. "What we do know is she lost someone sometime in the past, which may have marked the beginning of her traveling days."

"Oh..." A feeling of pity arose inside of me.

I would try not to be hurt by her cold attitude then, for it seemed that she was suffering on the inside.

"I hope we see you around often," Tim said cheerfully.

I nodded and smiled, before noticing the cup of water resting on the table with Thandrana's flower in it. I faked another smile, and left.

* * *

Nami walked away from the inn unpleasantly, her footsteps plodding against the cold ground as she moved stiffly. Her head hung down, and she looked at the ground as she walked. Out of the corner of her eye she saw a small group of people standing around the swamp, talking amongst themselves. Nami ignored them, not caring what they were so interested in. Maybe it had something to do with the town meeting that she had neglected to go too. She had been in her room all day, so she hadn't found out what had happened during the meeting. Nor did she really care.

The stars shone down on her as she stumbled down to the beach and gazed out over the silent waters. They splashed quietly against the cold sandy shore as she watched. Way out in the distance she could see a boat making its way in towards the shoreline. More tourists maybe? She'd have thought that what had happened to the last batch would have scared visitors away. Oh well, the ship would arrive in the morning, and maybe Nami could barter passage off this small island, if she wanted to. Nami sighed quietly as she folded her arms and continued staring out over the ocean. Something stirred in the air around her as the boat continued through the silent night waters.

* * *

"Looks like a storm's coming!" the Ship's Captain shouted, glancing at the rough waves ahead.

A wave struck the side, causing Cliff to lurch suddenly.

"That's funny," the Captain continued. "They were predicting clear skies today. We'll have to divert to Seabird Port, just north of here. Then we'll set out again tomorrow, I'll drop those five little men off on Forget Me Not Island, and then take you to Australia."

Cliff grabbed onto a railing and held on tightly as the ship continued rising up and down over the waves.

* * *

The five Sprites huddled together below the deck of the ship as the storm outside grew stronger and stronger. Hoggy looked up suddenly.

"You feel that?" he asked, glancing at the other sprites.

Timid nodded, but Bold just sat in the corner not responding.

"Its her," Aqua said. "I can feel it."

Slowly the Sprites shuffled up onto the deck just in time to hear the Captain say that he was diverting the ship to Seabird Port.

"No," Bold said. "She's on Forget Me Not Island all right. We'd better stop the ship and get to shore."

"But how?" Timid asked. "The Captain's taking the ship to the port. We won't be able to talk him out of it."

"We won't have to," Nappy said. "Respond to the signals she's sending. Its obvious she can feel our presence. When we confirm our existence she will provide a way."

The other's nodded, before closing they're eyes and chanting quietly: "From the height of the sky, to the depths of the earth, bow to the Goddess for all of you're worth."

* * *

_'There's something out there, I can feel it!'_

_'But what is it?'_

_'Something from the past, I'm not sure what. But I feel that there is more than one of them. Some Spirits left over from my original forces perhaps.'_

_'The Spirits of Mineral Island?'_

_'Reinforcements. They are returning to me.'_

_'What will you do?'_

_'Something prevents them from coming here, I will bring it down.'

* * *

_

The boat thrashed again.

"Its getting stronger!" Cliff shouted at the Captain.

"If I can only navigate us out of the storm then I can get us safely to Seabird Port!" the Captain replied over the sound of the waves crashing against the ship.

"What's going on?" Cliff turned when he heard a faint voice behind him.

He saw five little men standing a good distance behind him looking around worriedly and whispering to each other. Cliff grabbed the railing as the ship lurched again. If he didn't know any better he would think...

"Wait a second..." Cliff murmured to himself.

The Harvest Sprites! What were they doing here? Going to Forget Me Not Island? Cliff's eyes widened. What would they do there? He let go of the railing and started walking decisively towards them, intending to demand an explanation as to where they were going. The waves crashed against the ship again, sending him reeling. He grabbed the railing and drew himself towards the Harvest Sprites, but then they saw him.

"Cliff?" Aqua said. "But where is Shadow Bringer?"

Shadow Bringer had been the demon that had been with Cliff during his time in Mineral Town. But before he'd left he'd had it exorcised out. Cliff pointed shakily at the Sprites.

"Wha-what are you doing?" he shouted over the din.

Whatever they planned on doing in Forget Me Not Valley, Cliff imagined it wasn't good. The Harvest Sprites sensed this, looking at each other. Then suddenly they dove forward, shoving Cliff back away from them.

"Hey!" he cried as Nappy jumped into his chest, slamming him painfully backwards.

The other Sprites quickly dove overboard and the sea swept them away. Cliff swung a fist at the tiny Sprite who jumped over it with ease and hit Cliff in the cheek with his tiny fist, jolting him slightly. Then Nappy dove overboard as well.

"Wait!" Cliff shouted, stumbling forward.

The ship buckled, and he was thrown overboard and the treacherous waves swept him under. Before darkness took him away one thought flashed through Cliff's mind.

_The Harvest Sprites are going to the Island. They must be warned. The people must be warned..._

Then darkness took him and his body was swept down into the depths.


	8. Chapter 7 Delving in Evil

**Chapter 7 Delving in Evil**

_**This one's a bit short, but its to the point. Next chapter will shine more light into that which is really happening in Forget Me Not Valley. Oh, and as for the Harvest Sprites, well if you haven't noticed they aren't exactly evil, but they are lost and confused. They follow Thandrana because they are in denial that she isn't the loving mother that they picture her to be. There are many people in this world like that, people who live in a fantasy world that they've created for themselves and dont' allow themselves to see the truth. Oh yeah, and for some reason I am now unable to add lines in to divide up the point of views, so I've left streams of llllllllllllll. Sorry.  
**_

The swamp waters rippled quietly under the dark night sky. Slowly a dark shadow approached it. A figure, blackened by the darkness, stepped forward and kneeled before the waters.

"What is it that you want?" the shadowy figure asked.

_'What do you think I want? I want this village. I want this valley. I want this island.'_

"But you also want..."

_'Blood.'_

The man stiffened, unsure of how to respond.

"What will you give me?"

_'A chance to delve into you're dark fantasies. A chance to dabble in the realm that few mortal men get the chance to. A chance to become that which you are.'_

"That which I am?"

_'The only way to find good is by understanding evil. To understand evil you must experience it.'_

"I think I understand."

_'Through learning about evil you will also learn about good.'_

"Yes."

_'Through your willingness to give in you will discover who you truly are.'_

"Yes."

_'Now go! But leave no traces.'_

The figure stood slowly, and disappeared into the night as the rippling water began to glow neon green as a powerful spirit was suddenly given power. Then the glow disappeared, and silence reigned.

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That morning I was jarred awake by a loud screaming, thrashing, and the sound of glass breaking. I jolted upwards, falling off my bed in surprise. I grabbed that which was nearest to me and held it up in self defense. I jumped to my feet, my hand banging the radio and knocking it off of the nightstand where it clattered to the ground. The noise stopped. I hesitated, waiting for it to start again. That's when I grew suspicious. I put the radio back on the nightstand and turned it on. Once again I was blasted with the loud screaming, thrashing, and percussion.

It was a hard rock song. Now how had my radio gotten set to a hard rock station? I turned the song off immediately and twisted the volume switch way down. Then I realized that when I had fallen over I had grabbed a pillow in self defense. I sighed and threw it down. What a grand awakening.

I finished my morning chores quickly and stopped by the bar for a quick drink. Life in the town had definitely changed ever since Thandrana had come. It seemed like everywhere I went I saw those flowers. Everyone was giving in and following her. But what wasn't to follow? She'd promised to help them. But what of the people who had died because of her. What of the dark presence that had grabbed me when I was near the Turtle Swamp? Celia and I were the only ones who knew how dangerous this creature really was.

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Nami awoke to find herself lying on the beach. She must have fallen asleep last night while she was watching the ship as the storm brewed around it. Slowly she lifted herself up from the sand and looked about. The ship was nowhere in sight, and obviously had not come to Forget Me Not Island. Unless of course it had gone up to the Forget Me Not Harbor which was on the other side of the island. Nami shrugged and slowly stood up.

Just then her attention was caught by a piece of wood floating towards shore from the sea. She strained her neck further and glimpsed an arm wrapped around the wreckage. Her eyes widened in shock before she dove into the water and began swimming out to the tattered wood. Nami found a young brown haired man clutching tightly to the wood, shivering uncontrollably from the cold. His eyes were squeezed shut and he appeared to be unconscious. She immediately dragged him and the wood to shore. Nami put her ear next to his mouth and listened for breathing. Nothing.

"Somebody help me!" Nami shouted.

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I was just walking out of into the village when I heard someone shouting for help. I immediately ran for the beach to see Nami kneeling beside a waterlogged young man.

"He's not breathing," Nami said.

"Do you know mouth to mouth resuscitation?" I asked.

Nami nodded nervously.

"Then the two of you have a lot of catching up to do," I said. "I'll go get Dr. Hardy, you perform rescue breathing."

Nami looked up, about to protest, but I was already gone. Immediately she breathed twice into his mouth, watching his chest rise and fall before continuing to perform rescue breathing. After a little bit the boy began breathing on his own, so Nami stopped, breathing heavily from the exertion.

In a few minutes I returned with Dr. Hardy. He was a strange old doctor whose left eye was blackened and scarred by some sort of accident.

"Is he alright now?" Dr. Hardy asked.

"Yes," Nami said panting. "He started breathing on his own just a minute ago."

Hardy nodded, and looked the man over.

"We'd better get him back to my office," he suggested.

I helped Hardy carry him back to his house.

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Nami sat by the beach for a while, wondering about all that had happened. Was the boy from the ship she'd seen last night? And if so, what had happened to the ship? Had it been destroyed in the storm. Finally she gave up thinking and stood up to leave. As she passed the Turtle swamp something caught her eye on the beach. Five small figures dressed in black crawled out of the ocean, coughing up salt water and shivering from the cold. Then the swamp began glowing neon green and a strange girl materialized above the swamp.

Nami's eyes widened and she ducked behind a tree to watch. The woman had green hair cascading down over her shoulders and serious eyes. Her skin was pale as if she'd never seen the sun and her soft, bare feet floated just inches above the water. Her eyes flashed as the five little men approached the swamp. The five men slumped before her, a few of them crying, but one in the back stood solemn faced.

"It was you who called to me from over the sea," the woman spoke suddenly.

The five men nodded faintly.

"I was expecting some of the Spirits left over from the massacre on Mineral Island," the woman said again. "But instead I find five of my Sprites. Where are the other two?"

"Don't you remember?" the solemn faced Sprite spoke suddenly, his eyes brimming with anger. "The Right Hand killed Staid, and Chef was struck by lightning during the attack. You killed them!"

The other four men looked over at the solemn faced one, their eyes begging him to stop. The woman's eyes flashed suddenly.

"Bold," she said calmly. "Staid died because of all of you, remember? You guys decided to awaken the Right Hand without my help!"

"Bullcrap!" Bold challenged. "The Right Hand was the one who tore his soul from his body, not us!"

Another one of the little men stepped forward.

"Oh Harvest Goddess," he began. "We-"

"Sh!" the woman shushed him quickly.

Nami raised an eyebrow. Goddess?

"I am not the Harvest Goddess anymore," the woman said. "I am the Great Spirit Thandrana. Never refer to me by my former name."

"But... you told us never to call you by you're real name..."

"Well times have changed. Mineral Town was stolen from me, but I intend to become what I once was. I will take Forget Me Not Island for my own. And you five will help me."

"No," Bold said. "Never!"

With that he tore off his black cloak and threw it on the ground before Thandrana. Underneath he was wearing pink clothing with a small pointed pink hat. But Thandrana ignored his outburst.

"You are no longer Harvest Sprites," she said. "You will become something greater. I will make you greater."

"What do you mean?" one of the sprites asked.

"You will become the Holy Sprites of the Great Spirit Thandrana," a cruel smile arose on her cheeks. "You will wield my energies and use it to gain control of the island. For before you were weak, you were the legs of the island. Now you will be greater!"

The four sprites brightened up, but Bold still remained grim faced.

"No," he said. "You are false Thandrana. I will never allow you to control me, ever again."

And with that he turned to walk away. Thandrana's eyes flashed and she drew her hand back. Suddenly her fingernails turned dark with energy and began charging. Bold tried to run, but Thandrana was too quick. She swung her hand at him, preparing to strike him out of existence. But then her hand was deflected by something. Thandrana looked up and saw a great white beast standing before her, her fingernails stuck in the flesh of its hand. She gasped once, and tore her hand away from the creature. Thandrana stepped backwards, away from the beast, her eyes fearful.

"What do you want?" she asked, her lip trembling.

Bold looked up at the great beast thankfully before it swept him up onto its shoulder, and ran off in the direction of the forest. The Goddess watched the beast leave, the fear never leaving her eyes.

"What is it mother?" Nappy asked, touching her leg gently, like a child.

But Thandrana didn't respond, she stood riveted by a powerful fear. Nami leaned further out of behind the tree to watch.

"Oh my..." the Goddess said quietly to herself. "They know... they know..."

Then suddenly her eyes turned and focused on Nami. Nami gasped, and pulled herself behind the tree, but it was too late. Thandrana was on her like a wolf, shooting across the swamp with unnatural speed she grabbed Nami and slammed her down to the ground with her incredible strength. Nami gasped as the mighty spirit pinned her violently.

_'What did you see?' _Thandrana's violent thoughts entered Nami's mind, causing her to shriek. _'WHAT DID YOU SEE!'_

Thandrana then jerked Nami's head back, and stared straight into her eyes. Nami just stared back, transfixed by the spirit's eyes, beautiful but deadly. Something icy went up and down her, as if reaching into her soul. Nami shivered, and tried to break eye contact with the Goddess.

"You will help me," Thandrana announced loudly, her fingers closing around Nami's neck.

It was not a question. Nami couldn't do anything but nod as the spirit began to strangle her.

_'You will obey me!'_


	9. Chapter 8 Journeying Inward

**Chapter 8 Journeying Inward**

Sunlight filtered into the room quietly, brushing against the young man's face. Slowly he opened his eyes and looked around the unfamiliar room. Where was he? He slowly sat up and began rubbing his forehead. What had happened. He remembered water, waves, and drowning.

_Am I dead?_

He pinched his arm. No, he wasn't dead. He sighed, and sat up in the bed where he lay. The man hugged his knees and rested his head against them. So much had gone wrong.

"Oh!" a voice suddenly startled him. "You're awake! That's good!"

He looked up to see a strange man dressed in a doctor's garb with a frightening scarred left eye.

"I'm Dr. Hardy," the man said. "You washed up on shore this morning. You were found by a girl named Nami. She saved your life."

The young man blinked slowly and looked down at the ground.

"Who are you?" Dr. Hardy asked.

"Uh..." the man put a hand to his head and tried to remember.

"What happened?"

He closed his eyes and thought, trying to remember who he was, and what had happened. Waves, water, drowning. Waves, water, drowning. Waves, water, drowning.

_The Harvest Sprites are going to the Island. They must be warned. The people must be warned..._

His eyes widened as he poured over the unfamiliar memory. Harvest Sprites?

"Do you not remember who you are?" Dr. Hardy asked.

"Cliff..." the man said. "My name is Cliff..."

"Do you remember how you got here?"

Cliff slowly shook his head. The doctor sighed.

"That is unfortunate."

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Vesta sat in front of the TV watching the weather. Out of the corner of her eye she could see Thandrana's flower resting on the table. The announcer began speaking of clear skies and warm weather, but Vesta's mind began to journey somewhere else. She felt the presence of something powerful. Her eyes widened as the room grew darker.

_'Hello Vesta.'_

Vesta jolted up from her chair as the weatherman grew silent and a strange voice filled her head.

_'How do we come to understand good?'_

Vesta looked up and saw Thandrana's face appear on the television screen. A ghostly aura filled the room as cold air brushed against Vesta's skin like cold hands.

_'Journey inward to discover who you are. Who will you become?'_

Vesta turned to the left and stared off into the darkness.

_'Go ahead. Go into the darkness.'_

Vesta stood there hesitantly.

_'It is what you are. Journey inward, discover who you truly are. Within you will find the ability to be a goddess. The ability to become something great. Only through darkness will we discover light. Only by knowing our evil will we know our good.'_

Vesta took a step forward into the darkened highway. Cold air moved slowly from her bedroom towards her, as if the ghosts of the dead were awaiting her. She began shivering as she took another step. The darkness was creepy, frightening, for who knew what was waiting for you inside it. But at the same time it was exciting, thrilling, like a horror movie. So terrible, but yet so intoxicating. As Vesta continued journeying into the darkness inside the cold air grew stronger, and it began to surround her. Down the hallway, past Celia's room, she found herself facing the door to her room, shut tightly closed to hold back the darkness inside.

Vesta reached out to open the door, but found that it was locked tightly. She reached into her pocket and found a small black key. Vesta thrust it into the door quickly, and twisted it violently. She grabbed the door handle and pulled, but it remained locked. Intoxicated by the darkness, Vesta grew angry, twisting the key in the lock in desperation. But still the door would not open. Vesta pulled the key out and threw it to the ground. Then, she walked back to the other side of the hall before charging full throttle at the door. She slammed into it, breaking the door down and tumbling to the floor. She was in the room.

Slowly Vesta lifted herself up from the ground and stared off into the shadows. Shivering uncontrollably, she couldn't shake the fact that something terrible was lurking in the room with her. Slowly she stepped backwards as if to leave the room, but found that the door that she'd broken through had disappeared.

_'Only by journeying inward...'_

She heard a growl, and whirled around, gasping in fear. In the midst of the pitch blackness something moved.

_'Only by embracing the darkness inside...'_

The closet slowly creaked open. Vesta stood there transfixed as the shadowy figure of a man stepped out of the closet. The ghostly creature moved slowly towards her, its shadowy trench coat and top hat obscuring its true shape.

_'Will you discover who you truly are?'_

Vesta slowly raised her hands in surrender, while squeezing her eyes shut and whimpering.

_'Journey inward... journey inward...'_

The shadow moved towards Vesta, the sound of hard boots against wood resounding as if from the inside of a cave, echoing outward as if from another world. The shadow reached her, and stopped. Vesta opened her eyes and looked up at the ghostly being. Then, without a word it stepped forward, channeling itself straight inside of her. Then, it was gone. It was inside of her. Vesta leaned back, breathing heavily in relief.

_'Find yourself.'_

Then with a start Vesta awoke to find herself sitting on the couch in front of the TV. The room was not dark and the weatherman continued talking about the sunshine that they would be receiving.

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Note to self. Never ever let the dog into the pasture again. That morning I made the mistake of doing that and payed for it dearly. You see the stupid dog spent about five minutes barking at the cow. Finally the cow got angry and chased the dog around the pasture for fifteen minutes while I tried to save the dog from its wrath.

So anyways the only good thing which came out of this was that I decided on a name for the dog. Here Stupid! Fetch the stick, Stupid! Sit Stupid! Okay, so technically I named him John Hancock so as to impress the neighbors, but frequently I end up calling him stupid as opposed to John.

Anyways, after all that I decided to go visit Celia and see if I could work up the nerve to ask her out on a date or something. Not that I was actually any good with girls, but hey, there's a first time for everything. Actually around then I was seriously thinking about visiting my cousin. From what I'd heard he was doing very well with girls, and was actually getting married to the girl of his dreams. Lucky dog. I finished my morning chores and set off to Vesta's farm. When I arrived I went to knock on the door, only to see Celia open it up before I got a chance.

"Oh..." I said startled. "Sorry..."

"Hi Josh!" Celia said, smiling.

I smiled shyly, before stepping back to let her out the door.

"So are you out taking advantage of the great weather we're having?" she asked as she stepped out of the house and shut the door behind her.

"A-actually I was wondering..." I stuttered slightly, "if you'd like to go somewhere with me."

"Why?" Celia asked. "What do you need from me?"

_Nothing! I just want to spend time with you...?_

"Hey Celia!" a dark haired man suddenly stepped out from behind the house, startling both of us. "Aren't you supposed to go shopping today?"

Who was this guy? He gave me a not so pleasant stare before turning back to Celia.

"Oh yeah," Celia looked at me apologetically. "Sorry Josh, but I really need to be going."

I looked down, unhappy that this guy had just ruined my chances of going somewhere with Celia. I then got an idea. Perhaps I could go with her.

"Would you like me to come with you then?" I asked. "You know, since you can't go somewhere with me and all..."

Celia brightened up and smiled.

"That would be-"

"Bad," the dark haired man suddenly said. "You can't go with her."

"Marlin..." Celia protested, glancing at him disapprovingly.

I opened my mouth to protest, but the man beat me to it.

"You just came up here to pick up women, didn't you!" he said glaring at me.

"Hey wait a second!" I stepped forward angrily.

"Marlin!" Celia protested. "You shouldn't say things like that!"

Suddenly Vesta came running out of the house.

"What's all the ruckus about?" then she looked at Celia. "Celia, why haven't you gone shopping yet like I told you?"

"That man was keeping her from going," Marlin said, gesturing at me.

"Marlin that is not so!" Celia was getting angry now.

"I'm sorry," I muttered, looking at the ground. "I didn't know Celia had to go shopping."

"Marlin," Vesta sighed. "Go bother someone else."

Marlin sulked off while Vesta shot me a grin.

"Why don't you be a good boy Josh and escort Celia to the path to the port?"

"That's a great idea," Celia said.

I nodded slowly before taking Celia's hand and leading her down to the path.

"I'm sorry about Marlin," Celia said. "He just worries about me too much. Don't ever listen to what he says."

I nodded and smiled.

"I'll see you... later perhaps?"

Celia smiled, and nodded before walking up the path towards the port. I then turned to see Marlin standing behind me with his arms folded.

"Hey," he said, glaring at me.

"I'm Josh," I said unpleasantly.

"Marlin," he said. "Stay away from her."

"Who?" I looked at him strangely. "Celia?"

"You heard me right," he said. "Stay away from her."

"And whose gonna make me?" I asked. "You?"

Marlin glared at me again, before turning away and walking back to the house.

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Something happened that night. Shadows everywhere clouding all vision as a cold and deadly silence set upon the entire village. In each home across the village the Thandrana's flowers grew taller, and brighter. Their petals opened slightly, for the moonlight seemed to slow down their growth. At the inn Ruby awoke feeling terribly thirsty.

Rising, she stood up slowly so as not to awaken Tim and walked into the bathroom for some water. Ruby twisted the handle quickly and a slow stream came running out of the tap. She held her cup under it until it was filled up. Then, she lifted the glass to her lips to drink it, but then caught a glimpse of an image plastered on the mirror. It was Thandrana.

"Are you thirsty?" Thandrana asked.

Ruby nodded quietly.

"Then drink," Thandrana's hand extended out from inside the mirror holding a pink glass in it.

Ruby accepted the spirit's glass and drank from it.

"You will no longer know thirst," Thandrana said smiling. "Will you be my servant?"

"Yes," Ruby said. "I will be your servant."

"Good," Thandrana said. "That's all I wanted to know."

Then in a flash she disappeared.


	10. Chapter 9 Journeying Further

**Chapter 9 Journeying Further**

_**This chapter kicks it into gear pretty hard I believe. Oh, and I should point out that I'm going to change this title when I submit the next chapter from "New Moon" to "Darkness 2: New Moon." Just thought I'd give you the heads up. **_

"See you later Celia," Vesta said. "I'm going into town for a while."

"Hmm?" Celia looked up. "But you said you were going to help me water the plants this morning."

"Something came up," Vesta said. "Galen and the others are getting together, and I need to be with them."

Celia looked at the ground unpleasantly.

"Ask Marlin," Vesta said, before walking quickly out the door.

Celia looked up.

"Marlin?" she called, as she walked through the house searching for him.

Then she found a note pinned to the wall. It read: "Vesta, I am going into town to visit an old friend. -Marlin."

Celia sighed before sulking outside to begin watering.

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Takakura had left an hour ago for some ceremony involving the spirit. It creeped me out that the man I worked with was falling into the town's new cult, but there was little I could do. I could tell him that a dark presence had attacked me near the swamp, but what would that mean to him? Every few years someone opened up their mouth and claimed to have gone through a similar experience, and they were always laughed at and ignored. But what if it was true? What if everyone was falling under the control of evil? I finished my morning chores before heading up to Vesta's farm. To my surprise I found Celia watering the plants by herself.

"Where is everyone?" I asked.

Celia shook her head grumpily while trying unsuccessfully to tear a large weed up from the ground.

"Here," I reached my hand out to help her pull it.

"No," Celia grumbled, "I'm fine.

Then she pulled with all her might. The weed split in half, sending her sprawling backwards into the dirt. I smiled.

"Yeah, I can see that." I held out a hand to her. "You don't seem all that happy today."

She took my hand and I pulled her up. The fall seemed to have jolted her back to her senses. She smiled at me apologetically.

"Sorry," she said. "Vesta said she'd help me water the plants, and then ran off to town to... I don't know, join in a ceremony or something."

"That's strange," I said. "Takakura is gone too. He said he was going to a ceremony involving Thandrana."

Celia looked up suddenly.

"Are you saying..." she stopped suddenly. "...Vesta's involved in..."

"I hope not," was all I could say.

I glanced up at the large field.

"Here," I said. "Let me give you a hand with the watering."

Cliff stumbled into the inn clumsily.

"Ah," Ruby looked up, smiling. "A new face. Who might you be?"

"Uh... Cliff," he said, walking cautiously up to the table.

"You new in town?" Ruby rambled. "Visiting? Moving in?"

Cliff just nodded slowly.

"Not very talkative are we?" Ruby giggled softly. "You remind me of Nami. You don't know her, do you?"

Cliff shook his head.

"Would you like a room Mr. Cliff?" Ruby asked.

Cliff nodded.

"Very well," Ruby said. "You can take the one across from Nami's."

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"Close your eyes," Galen directed. "Listen to your inner self, for that is where you will meet great spirits, spirits like Thandrana."

The quests closed their eyes and listened as directed.

"Don't think," Galen continued. "Clear your mind of all thought. Clean out your mind. Focus on your breathing."

In. Out. Inhale. Exhale. In. Out. Inhale. Exhale.

As their minds began to darken Thandrana made her move into them. Around a table sat Tim, Takakura, Vesta, Carter, Chris, Cody, Griffin, and Galen. The room was lit by faint candles as the willing victims lounged in the darkness.

_'I am Thandrana...'_

Chris' eyes shot open as the voice entered her mind.

"Don't stop concentrating," Galen said.

Chris closed her eyes again and emptied her mind. A strange feeling surrounded her, like a warm towel being wrapped around your shoulders.

_'Do as I say... follow my command.'_

They all listened and obeyed as they saw the mighty spirit appear before them, her green hair hanging down her shoulders loosely as she smiled at them individually. Then, in their mind they found themselves in a secret place, a garden filled with beautiful flowers.

_'I am here to guide you... but you must guide yourself as well. For I am only what you can become. I was born again, rising to a higher state of being than that which you are at. And one day with work fate may bring you here as well. If you follow it through to Nirvana then you can be just as great as I am. That will be your reward. Now listen and obey what I am saying to you.'_

Individually she spoke to each of them, and told them what to do. When there eyes reopened they were different. A dark power lurked behind every pupil, and a quiet shadow filtered through their souls.

"Now go," Thandrana appeared before them at the front of the room. "Make this night the beginning of an age of reason. This island will be blessed!"

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Thrashing, violence, fear. He found himself being thrown across the room as a mighty force reached out for him, darting here and there, in and out of the shadows, but never into the light. Mighty arms grabbed him before launching him back into the air as he screamed and fled deeper and deeper into himself.

_Don't let her in! Keep her out of your mind!_

The mighty shadow stood before him, and he stopped suddenly. For there was no way to escape. Slowly, the mighty shape descended upon him, reaching out towards him like the undead.

_Don't let her in!_

Cliff awoke, sweating and gasping for air. In his hands he clutched tightly to the bed sheets that were twisted and torn out from under the mattress. What a nightmare.

_'What a nightmare.'_

Cliff looked up suddenly, gasping in fear as he stared off into the dark corners of his room. Quiet whispering arose around him, as tiny voices began speaking. He heard a child giggle from in the corner, and turned abruptly in that direction. Nothing.

_'Do you remember?'_

Cliff closed his eyes and drew the sheets up around him, wishing that the voices would leave him alone.

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Nami awoke on the cold ground by the swamp. Slowly she arose to her feet and glanced around. Perhaps it had all been a dream. A nightmare. Night insects chirped slowly as she glanced around through the darkness. There was no mighty green haired girl trying to choke the life out of her. Her hand flew up to her neck, and she felt it for any sign left behind by the girl. She rubbed the side of her neck before moving around to the back. Her hand brushed against something and she stopped. On the very back of her neck there was a long scar stretching from her nerve chord up towards her skull.

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Takakura left the ceremony, thinking that nothing was wrong. Thandrana had instructed him to come to the swamp to speak with her. The others walked off to their homes, for it was late at night, but Takakura had no reason to. He walked quietly forward, his boots scraping gravel as he moved off of the path and down into the grass. Before him he knew stood the large swamp, but in the darkness he could barely deduce where exactly it was. Darkness closed in around him as he moved forward. It grew so dark that he stopped, before resuming his journey at a much slower pace.

_'You will make the journey into the darkness if you truly follow me.'_

"Yes," Takakura nodded, and continued walking.

_'Let the darkness wash over you. Open your mind.'_

Takakura closed his eyes and released the barriers that kept the night out. Immediately he felt something seeping in. Quiet, and spiritual. Suddenly a twig snapped. Takakura's eyes shot open, and he looked around for an intruder.

"Somebody there?" he asked, glancing around.

But in the darkness he could not see anything. Something dashed through the bushes to his right. Takakura turned, now thoroughly freaked. Then he heard footsteps, marching quickly towards him.

"No!" Takakura could not see his nightly visitor, but he could sense his evil intent.

He turned to run, but his foot caught a root and he fell on his face. Darkness steadily closed in around him as Takakura rolled over and began crawling backwards away from the approaching footsteps. The night moved in closer, Takakura pulled himself to his feet and began stumbling forward past trees, through the swamp as he struggled to survive.

He tumbled forward, his head splashing into the waters of the swamp, and he lay still. Listening quietly, he heard nothing. The pursuing footsteps had vanished, and now he was alone. Takakura slowly pulled himself back up to his feet and glanced around through the darkness. He could sense that someone, or something was out there in the dark. Takakura slowly pulled himself to his feet and faced the swamp.

"Thandrana," he whispered, hoping to grab the Great Spirit's attention.

Another twig snapped. The swamp sucked around his leg. Takakura turned quickly, his wide eyes filled with fear. And then he screamed, a long shrill scream that shattered the silence of the night like the shriek of a banshee.

A small distance away, Nami heard the scream, and ran to help whoever was in danger. She came in time to see the bloody body of Takakura fall forward into the swamp. She gasped, before looking up into the eyes of his killer. A tall man stood at the edge of the swamp, a bloody knife clutched in his hand and a wide brimmed hat resting on his head. He looked up at Nami suddenly, his face shrouded with a leather mask, his eyes glinting through thin eye holes. Nami screamed loudly, before turning and running off into the darkness.

The killer did not bother pursuing her. Instead, it nodded at the dead body lying face down in the swamp, steadily turning its waters red with the blood. Then, the killer dropped to his knees and bowed before the swamp. As he stood to leave decayed hands slowly reached up from deep within the water and dragged the body under.

_'More... more... more...'_

_**Like it? Okay, okay, I know the leather masked serial killer has already been done, but hey, at least I didn't make him have a hockey mask. That would be lame plagiarism. But in my mind I can see a leatherfaced man with a leather wide brimmed hat, and to me that is just creepy, even better than that leatherfaced guy from whatever horror movies he's from. Plus I wanted to acheive something close to the affect of the Tinman from the book "House" by Frank Peretti and Ted Dekker and this is what I got. Not read taht book? Then jump to it, a very very good book. So now darkness is descending on Forget Me Not VAlley and to make matters worse a psychopathic killer has come out. Things keep getting better and better... Until another day then.**  
_


	11. Chapter 10 The First Nightmare

**Chapter 10 The First Nightmare**

_**Hey everyone. This chapter kicks it into gear quite strongly. Oh, and before you read know that I am not prejudice against jews. I'm just saying that if you get any wrong ideas.**_

When Vesta arrived home for the night she glanced out of her left eye and saw Celia and Josh sitting on a stump in the far corner gazing at the full moon. Vesta stepped forward, angry all of a sudden.

_What was he doing here?_

She almost walked over to them, but she stopped herself. Why was she angry? She didn't hold anything against him for liking Celia, frankly she held more against Celia than she did against the new farmer. She was the religious fanatic, not him. Wordlessly, she turned, and walked inside her house.

"Where have you been?" Vesta looked up to see Marlin glancing at her suspiciously.

"In town," Vesta said.

"I thought you'd promised to help Celia with the watering," Marlin said.

Vesta frowned, surprised by her anger.

"Look here mister," she glowered. "Its none of your business what I do with my time!"

"I'm just saying," Marlin said. "I left under the knowledge that you would be helping Celia with the chores. If Josh..." he said the word 'Josh' with such contempt that it made Vesta roll her eyes, "...hadn't come by she'd have had to do them alone."

Vesta shook her head and started walking away.

"Just because you've been beaten to her by the new farmer doesn't give you a right to be a self righteous pig about it," Vesta said.

"And whose being self righteous?" Marlin asked. "I'm only trying to look out for Celia."

"Oh don't lie to me," Vesta said. "I've seen the way you look at her, and I think you wish there was something more between the two of you than just a friendship."

Marlin glanced at her.

"Its none of your business what I think," Marlin said. "All I know is I think you're reading too much into this new cult thing."

That did it. The argument went on for a while before Marlin marched off to his room angrily and slammed the door shut.

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"I love Forget Me Not Valley," Celia said as we gazed up at the moon.

"I'm beginning to as well," I said. "I've never been to a place so filled with peace."

Celia smiled at me, before turning towards the moon again.

"My parents want me to get married," she said suddenly. "They've picked out a boy whom I don't even know and want me to marry him."

I looked up in surprise. Such a concept was unheard of practically in America where I came from, but who knew what customs these small islands held.

"Its an old Japanese custom," Celia explained, as if reading my mind. "I'm not Japanese, but my family has lived in Japan for the last two generations."

"Really?" I looked up, surprised.

"Yeah," Celia said. "My parents are strong enthusiasts about Japanese culture, but I never cared much for it."

She laughed silently, and lowered her gaze from the moon before staring off into the darkness.

"I guess that's why they sent me here," she said. "After I converted to Christianity, and started dreaming about Australia they decided to send me away to this island, thinking that the small town culture might influence me I guess."

"Well you certainly aren't a city girl," I said.

Celia smiled softly.

"Thanks," she replied. "My parents traveled many times to America, which is why I can speak English and that's also how I began to... drift away from my parents point of view I guess."

"So you're Christian," I said suddenly, knowing that I had to ask the question sometime.

Celia nodded.

"You?" she asked, looking at me with an almost longing expression.

I knew she very much wanted me to say yes. I shook my head. I could feel her disappointment.

"My parents used to take me to Church," I said, "but it just wasn't for me. I never understood any of it, and half the stuff the people there said didn't make any sense."

"What type of Church was it?" Celia asked.

"I don't know," I said. "Some sort of protestant thing. I just remember them going on and on about how they were contemporary and how they weren't Catholic. I had a friend who stopped going to that church and started going to a Catholic church because he said that the people at my old church offended him because they didn't like Catholics very much at all."

Celia nodded silently.

"Marlin's Catholic," Celia said. "But I feel that he's too much a Catholic and not enough a Christian."

"What are you?" I asked, looking at her. "Christianity is a very broad term."

She caught my gaze.

"Actually it isn't," she said smiling. "I actually belong to no denomination. I don't feel that it is right. The Bible says that all true Christians belong to one church, not to many. But on the same token not all churches are truly Christian. But it would be foolish to say that Catholics aren't really Christians, or that Catholics are the only real Christians. That mistake is made too often."

"You said that your parents didn't really approve of you becoming Christian," I said. "Then why did you do it? I knew a person who converted to Judaism, but they asked their parents first. Their parents didn't really care anyways."

Celia looked at the ground.

"Well, Jesus said that you can't go home and ask permission to follow him, he said that you have to be willing to leave your family behind if necessary to follow him."

"Why would he want you to leave your family behind?"

"Because he should mean more to you than your family," Celia replied.

"But... isn't that a bit heartless?"

"Heartless would be leaving Jesus behind to be with your family," Celia looked back up at the stars again. "My parents didn't approve, because they are believers in Reincarnation, and they want me to believe too. They think that if you are a bad person then you are reborn to a lower state of being. As in poor people are people who have done bad things in their past lives."

I thought about the homeless guy Murrey, who I saw wandering around town often. Most of the townspeople treated him with contempt, and didn't pity his poverty. Perhaps it was because of all of the influences from Eastern Mysticism. I sighed. Too much religious crap for me. I decided to change the subject.

"So are you going to marry the guy they picked out for you?"

Celia frowned. "I... I don't really know... I don't want to disappoint my parents, but..."

She sighed unhappily, so I wrapped my arm around her shoulders to comfort her. Celia rested her head gently against my shoulder, but she did not cry.

"They say that its for the best..." she said. "They say that I will grow to love the man in time."

"I know it must be hard," I whispered.

She turned and looked up into my eyes, her beautiful brown eyes glowing in the moonlight. My heartbeat quickened, and I realized what I had to do. Gazing back at her, I leaned in slowly. Our gaze never broke as we stared lovingly into each other's eyes. I moved in closer, and she seemed to be pulled in by this. She too leaned in, and our lips met. We kissed each other under the moonlight with only the stars as our witnesses. I wrapped my other arm around her, and we continued kissing. Her eyes fluttered open slightly, so gently, like a butterflies wings. When I drew away Celia looked at the ground almost sadly, refusing to meet my gaze.

"Celia?" I said. "I don't know what exactly to say, but..."

Celia looked into my eyes and smiled shyly, a faint blush on her cheeks.

"It had to happen eventually," she said. "But I don't know if this is right. My parents..."

"Make your own decisions," I replied. "I'm not expecting you..."

"Its hard though," Celia said. "Its... Its like telling your parents that you're pregnant, except my parents would probably welcome that news more than they would welcome this... I need to think. Would you just leave me alone for now?"

I lowered my gaze, disappointed.

"I really like you Celia," I said. "I think you're the most beautiful girl I've ever met."

"I know this," Celia replied. "I feel the same way for you, but... I need time to think."

"Will you at least call me in the morning?" I asked.

Celia nodded. I averted my gaze.

"Goodnight then," I said, and she walked off towards her house.

For a while I just sat brooding. So I had a girl who liked me, but not really a girlfriend. She liked me, I liked her, her parents wanted her to marry someone else. Things were just getting better and better.

"Now that didn't go too well," I turned to see Muffy standing on the bridge.

Her bright blond hair blew slightly in the wind. Her tight shirt read: "Cool Jews." Great, more religion.

"Were you listening to all that?" I looked up at her unpleasantly.

"I heard enough of it to know what is going on," Muffy walked over and sat down beside me.

I sighed and looked at the ground. She definitely was a contemporary girl, the kind of girl who would walk into a Ghetto without the slightest shame. Her fiery blue eyes looked at me silently.

"Celia's a country girl," Muffy said. "She's too emotional and tends to listen to her parents too much."

Muffy chuckled quietly, brushing the wrinkles out of her jean skirt. I looked at her dumbly.

"What's it to you?" I asked.

"Nothing," Muffy said. "Except it means that there might be the typical drama which is always dragged in with arranged marriages. What she needs to do is get out of this small town, and learn about the real world."

"I'm really glad to hear that the two of you are such good friends," I said sarcastically, for I was starting to dislike Muffy.

"Hey," Muffy replied, "don't get mad at me. I'm just a messenger. Like this cult thing? Its a small town. Small towns are the breeding place for weird cults, arranged marriages, and general backward behavior."

"I think she's a very nice girl who is just trying to get through life," I said.

"You can't be nice in this world," Muffy said, standing up. "It doesn't get you anywhere. You gotta be a killer to get ahead."

"Right," I replied. "I'll be sure to notify Jack the Ripper that he's getting ahead."

Muffy turned back at me and smiled slyly.

"Trust me dude," she said, "you shouldn't be waisting your time with girls like her. She's just a religious small town hick."

"I thought you were the loyal Jew," I said, eying her shirt.

"At least I'm cool about it," Muffy said. "You want a good girlfriend, you should find someone cooler, someone like me."

"Let me guess," I rolled my eyes. "That was your attempt to hit on me."

"If I needed to hit on you then I would have pulled the sweet little girl act," Muffy replied. "I can get any guy I want. You on the other hand have to be stuck with a quiet Christian girl."

"So this is about her being Christian?" I really wasn't feeling much love for Muffy at this point.

"Christianity isn't cool anymore," Muffy said. "They once oppressed everyone else and caused a lot of mayhem and now they're paying for it. Hitler even said he was a Christian, but he persecuted the Jews. Next thing you know she's gonna turn you into a religious wacko."

"I'm not a religious wacko," I protested.

"Good," Muffy turned, and marched off.

I sighed and shook my head.

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Celia stood at her window, watching Josh walk off towards his farm after Muffy had left. Tears glistened in her eyes as she cried silently. Things just weren't easy anymore. The town was getting taken over by a strange demonic cult, and her parents were setting up for an arranged marriage. On top of all this she was starting to like Josh. Heck, she might even be falling for him. Celia blushed faintly as she thought about Josh, about what she thought of him.

Suddenly she heard a snap. Gasping, she whirled around and gazed out into the darkness of her room. Nothing. Celia fumbled around the wall for the light switch, but when she found it it wouldn't turn on. Was it a blackout? Then she heard a slow creaking noise. Turning fearfully, she saw her rocking chair rocking back and forth as if by magic. Silently, she crept forward, towards it. It continued rocking.

_'Nightmares come after-'_

_'-Those who do not listen.'_

Celia gasped, and glanced around the room. Then slowly, her closet door slowly creaked open, revealing a dark figure who stood within it.

_'And the nightmares will devour you.'_

Celia made out a wide brimmed hat and eyes glowing in the darkness. Then the dark figure stepped out from her closet and into the soft moonlight, its face shrouded by a hideous leather mask. In its hand it held a knife.

"Hello Celia," the dark figure said, before laughing darkly. "The darkness has come after you."

Then the figure sprang towards her, raising its knife to strike her down. Celia screamed as the leather faced killer slammed her to the ground, before shoving its knife up against her throat.

"Now you will suffer!" the man cried, laughing evilly.

Celia stretched her head back, trying to escape the sharp blade pressing against her neck. A small drop of blood formed there and rolled down along her neck.

"Scream!" the man suddenly yanked her up from the ground and glared deep into her eyes.

Celia whimpered, her eyes wide with fright as her face went pale and she felt her blood run cold within her. She was now at the mercy of this madman, who would not show her any mercy.

"SCREAM!" Celia couldn't take it any longer, and screamed loudly, hoping to appease the killer, but it did not.

He quickly slashed her right cheek with the blade.

_He's going to bleed me, he's going to torture me!'_

Celia could do nothing but stare at the killer in utter terror.

_Help me Jesus!_

Then, suddenly the door slammed open, and Marlin stood there, with a wooden walking stick held tightly in his hands.

"Let her go," he snarled.

The leather faced killer turned to face the challenge.

"LET HER GO!" Marlin drew the staff back, ready to strike the killer.

Slowly the killer rose back to his feet, tossing Celia aside to the back of the room, before looking down upon Marlin, like a Giant facing down a knight. The killer shot forward, its black cloak flowing like a ghost as he swung his blade. Marlin threw his walking stick up to defend himself, and the knife clanged against it harmlessly. Marlin then thrust forward with the stick, but the madman grabbed it with his other free hand and tore it from his grip. Then, he threw it behind him, striking Celia in the chest, and knocking her over again. Marlin stepped back as the leather faced killer touched the brim of his hat respectfully.

"Now you will die," his dark voice rasped from within the mask.

Suddenly Celia came in behind the killer and swung Marlin's staff into the back of his head, sending the gigantic man tumbling forward, his dark cloak flowing out like a cape. Celia then collapsed, breathing heavily. Marlin leapt out of the way and the huge man fell to the ground, his knife plunging into a wooden table. Then, he quickly leapt back to his feet and flung himself out the window into the darkness outside. Marlin was immediately at Celia's side.

"Celia?" he asked, patting her cheek to try and wake her up. "Are you alright?"

Celia only moaned, just lying there, breathing heavily but refusing to open her eyes.

"Celia, please..."

Her head rolled to the side as darkness took her.

_**Yeah, and to explain I know that jews aren't like Muffy. I just wanted someone in this story to be jewish, cause I'm trying to account for a wide variety of religions in this, and then while writing this I thought it would be creative to make a scene like this with her. Why? Mostly cause it's different than the typical interpretation of Muffy as a girly flirtacious lonely person. This way she is still a bit of a slut, but she's a more realistic type, and not one of those stereotyped "throw themselves at every guy" slut. She's just a jerk. As for the cool jews stuff, I have seen people take their religion that way and treat it as a badge of pride. And not just jews mind you. That's one of my greatest pet peaves, because religion should not be a badge of pride, because then do you truly believe in it because it is true or just because it is cool to believe in it? Anyways, see you later.**_


	12. Chapter 11 Silence of the Dogs

**Chapter 11 Silence of the Dogs**

Nami vaguely remembered stumbling into the inn late that night after her harrowing experience. She barely remembered Ruby asking if anything was wrong. Nami had mumbled something and made her way for the stairs, but had fallen on her face before reaching them. Time came over and helped her up the stairs to her room where he left her to sleep. When she first opened her eyes that morning and glimpsed daylight her first thoughts were what would she tell Tim and Ruby?

They had become almost like her parents to her ever since she had first come here, and she knew she had to at least tell them. Nami rose from her bed and began dressing herself. But what could she say? That a magical girl had popped up from the swamp and that a psychopathic killer had just murdered Takakura and thrown his body into the swamp? Nami finished dressing before marching down the stairs for breakfast.

"Morning Nami," Ruby said, placing a pile of pancakes before Nami. "How did you sleep?"

Nami couldn't help but smile at Ruby's attempts to cheer her up.

"Are you feeling better?"

Nami frowned and looked at the ground.

"Ruby..." she murmured. "There's something that I need to tell you."

"What's that pumpkin?" Ruby asked.

"Theres uh... there's uh..."

"Don't try too hard honey," Ruby flashed a grin. "I'll go get you some more pancakes."

Ruby then turned and walked off to the kitchen. Nami rolled her eyes and glanced after her.

"Good morning sunshine!" Tim said, walking down the stairs. "Are you feeling any better today?"

It was an exact repeat of what had happened with Ruby.

"I need to tell you something Tim," Nami said. "You see... last night... I saw..."

"The new guy? That's great! You should go talk to him sometime. I think he'd make a good friend! He ran off early this morning to do something in the forest. You should go talk to him. Is Ruby in the kitchen? I'll go see her, see ya when I see ya."

With that Tim waltzed into the kitchen, singing to himself.

"Good morning! Good morning! Its great to stay up late. Good morning! Good morning to you!"

Nami rolled her eyes and pushed her plate aside. Without a word she turned and walked out of the inn.

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Celia didn't call me in the morning as she had said. I waited until noon without receiving a call. But that was only the beginning of my worries, for Takakura had not returned last night. I walked down to Vesta's farm to see why Celia hadn't called me. When I arrived I found Marlin sitting on the porch with a worried look in his eye. He shot me a glare when I approached.

"What do you want?" he asked.

"Where is Celia?" I asked, looking around the farm for her.

"Leave her alone," Marlin said.

I glowered.

"Hey," I protested. "Just because she likes me doesn't give you a right to..."

Marlin fixed me with a cold stare.

"She said she'd call me in the morning," I said. "Are you preventing her from..."

Marlin looked at the ground and closed his eyes. Slowly a faint tear rolled down his cheek. Shock took me as I began to realize that something horrible must have happened.

"Where is she?" I demanded.

Marlin looked up at me suddenly, his eyes filled with tears. I ran by him, tore open the door to his home and ran inside.

"Josh!" Marlin called after me.

But I didn't stop. I ran up the stairs to where Celia's room was and threw the door open. I saw her laying on her bed, covered with a light sheet. Her chest rose and fell slowly, as she breathed in the air of life. I leaned against the door frame and let out a relieved sigh.

"She's okay," I said aloud.

"No she's not," I turned to see Marlin walk up behind me.

"What happened to her?" I asked.

Marlin looked at the ground, his eyes clouded over with doubt, fear, unwillingness to answer.

"During the night..." Marlin struggled for words, "Celia was attacked."

"Attacked?" I raised an eyebrow.

"A man wearing a leather mask and a wide brimmed cowboy hat," he replied. "I came into the room just in time."

"What did this guy want?" I lowered my gaze.

"I don't know," Marlin replied. "But I know he wasn't after money, and I'm sure it wasn't personal. I... I think that Celia just was unlucky enough to be his chosen victim."

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"We will do as you say mother," Nappy said, his eyes filled with loyalty.

"We are your servants," Aqua nodded.

Timid just nodded.

Thandrana smiled.

_'Wield my power and bring me many converts.'_

lllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll_  
_

After seeing Celia I realized that something horrible was happening to this town, but why was it that no one else could see it? It was time to make a stand. I didn't know where I stood morally or spiritually, but I knew that this killer had to be somehow connected with the town's new cult. It was time to visit the forest again, to speak with the Harvest Sprites.

When I arrived I found the three elves talking to a ragged looking boy. His eyes were cold, sad, as if he'd suffered more than anyone else in the world. It was then that I realized that he was the boy who Nami had found floating in the sea.

"Hey," I smiled, and walked into the clearing slowly.

Flak looked up at me, and nodded, but did not smile.

"Josh," he said, "this is Cliff. He comes from Mineral Island."

"Mineral Town," I said. "That's where my cousin lives!"

Cliff looked up suddenly.

"Your cousin?"

I nodded.

"Yeah, his name is Zach, did you know him?"

Cliff turned and looked at the ground sorrowfully before nodding slowly.

"What's up?" I asked. "You look like you just won second place in the lottery."

Cliff was silent for a little while before he began speaking.

"I left it all behind," he said. "Yes, I knew Zach, he was my best friend on that island, but I just had to leave."

"Why?" I looked at him quizzically.

Cliff just looked up at me, and then looked away.

"He's told me his story," Flak said. "And I believe that the evil that is now working on our island came from Mineral Town."

"Why is that?" I asked.

"Similar events plagued Mineral Town about a month ago," Flak said.

I then remembered the radio announcements about all the strange stuff that was happening on Mineral Island.

"What happened on Mineral Island?" I asked.

Cliff didn't respond.

"I don't know if he's ready to tell us," Flak said.

"What?" I looked up. "But we need to know!"

Flak shot me a stern gaze, and I fell silent.

"I've suffered to much to speak," Cliff slowly stood up, and walked out towards town.

"Leave him be," Flak said. "He isn't ready to reveal the truth. Perhaps you should go to Mineral Island and find out what happened there."

I nodded slowly, as I watched Cliff walk off.

"But what about Celia?" I thought aloud.

"What about Celia?" Flak looked at me suddenly. "Is something wrong?"

I nodded. "She got attacked last night by a murderer."

Flak's face paled, and he looked back at both of his brothers.

"Call the Bobbys!" Nic shouted, before Nak slapped a hand over his mouth.

"Bobbys are in England you silly goose," Nak corrected him.

Flak rolled his eyes.

"I'm afraid with the small amount of Police in this area you'll have to receive aid from another island," Flak said. "The closest is Mineral Island, but they only have one cop for the whole town."

"Ooooo," Nak said. "Where did you learn that?"

"Because I pay attention," Flak sighed impatiently.

"Who runs this dang island anyways?" I asked, looking around. "I mean, there's no mayor, no government, no..."

"This island is part of the Aprachi Island chain," Flak said. "There are so many small islands like this with natives that local governments are significantly limited. Especially for an island such as this."

"Oh," I said. "Right. And you think I should go to Mineral Town?"

"Why not?" Flak asked. "I could send Nic with you, and Nak and I could watch over your farm until you return."

I nodded.

"But what about Celia?" I asked. "Someone needs to..."

"Marlin will take care of her," Flak said. "And we will pop in every now and then to make sure everything is okay."

A twinge of jealousy shot through me.

"What's wrong," Flak asked. "You don't approve?"

"No," I shook my head, "I approve. Its just..."

"Just what?"

I decided to change the subject.

"Do any of you know where Takakura is? I haven't seen him since yesterday."

The Harvest Sprites looked at each other.

"Maybe he went to the port," Nic suggested.

I shrugged my shoulders.

"Alright," I said. "I'll go to Mineral Island and see if I can find out what's going on. Nic, you can come with me."

"Yay!" Nic ran over and hugged my leg.

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Cliff walked out of the forest with his head hung low and his spirits sinking within him. The memories were too much, for Mineral Island had taken everything from him. His guardian, and his Goddess had both turned out to be false. He could no longer face his best friend without feeling the pain of it all. And Ann. His best friend was now marrying the only girl he'd ever loved. Cliff had always hid this inside of him, but ever since Ann and Zach had started dating Cliff's heart had been broken inside of him. But now it was to late. His life had collapsed around him, and there was nothing he could do but pick up the pieces. He stepped out onto the beach, and tripped suddenly on a rock. He tumbled to the ground, bashing his arm painfully against the hard sand.

"You okay?" Cliff looked up to see a beautiful redhead girl looking down at him.

Cliff looked up at her as if an angel had shot down from heaven and now stood before him. For a while he just stared, and she just stared back at him. Then slowly, he nodded, and rose to his feet.

"You must be Cliff," the girl said. "My name is Nami."

Cliff slowly lifted a shaky hand and held it out to the girl. Nami looked at it, as if contemplating whether to shake hands or not. Then slowly, she took it in her own and shook.

"Are you the person who..." Cliff began, "...who saved my life."

Nami looked away.

"I... guess..." she said, before looking back at him. "What happened?"

Cliff turned and looked out onto the gray waves which rose and fell against the shore.

"Nothing," he said, his voice cracking slightly as he tried to hold in his sorrow. "Nothing at all."

Then slowly, he walked to the edge of the water and stared out into the open sea.

"Where you on a ship?" Nami asked. "The ship that was supposed to arrive here?"

"I was going to Australia," Cliff said.

"Why?"

Cliff turned and looked at Nami.

"I..." he stuttered. "I lost... someone..."

"Oh," Nami looked at the ground. "So did I."

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Marlin looked briefly in at Celia before shutting her door and sitting down in front of it. In one hand he held his walking stick, and in the other he held an old six shot revolver. Vesta was off with Galen's gang doing something spiritual again, he hadn't been able to tell her about Celia yet. And now with everything that was happening he didn't know if he'd ever get a chance. He crossed himself and began to pray.


	13. Chapter 12 A Visit to Mineral Island

**Chapter 12 A Visit to Mineral Island**

_**Sorry for the delay in chapters. I haven't been very motivated about this story due to the lack of reviews. That being said I'd appreciate it if you other people would start giving me some feedback so that I know how I'm doing. Oh yeah, and thanks Pyro Flare for your consistent reviews, but couldn't you come up with something more to say than "Good story and I don't know what to say." Don't mean to put you on the spot, but could you tell me what you liked and what you didn't like? Or advice, if you come up with ideas or suggestions then I am more than happy to hear them. Now that the depressing note is out of the way, well Enjoy!**_

I stepped down off of the Ferry with my bag in tow.

"This is great!" Nak skipped cheerfully down the gangplank. "Hello Mineral Island!"

I shook my head and stepped off of the gangplank. Then good ol' intelligent Mr. Hancock came racing down the gangplank barking wildly.

"Hey stupid!" I shouted, "get back here!"

Mr. Hancock, hearing his name being called, immediately raced back towards me.

Nak jumped onto ol' John's back and the dog, with the Sprite on its back, dashed off into the town.

"Hey!" I shouted after them, but they were gone.

"So what brings yew here?" the Ferry Captain asked me, stroking his beard.

"I'm looking for someone," I said. "Do you know of a man named Zach?"

The Captain's expression hardened, and his smile faded.

"I want you to be very honest with me," he said. "Why do you want to see Zach?"

"He's my cousin," I said.

"Oh!" the Captain's face melted and he grinned again. "M'name's Captain Bates! Put er there!"

"I'm Josh," I said.

His large hand enveloped mine and he pumped my arm up and down.

"Any relative of Zach is a friend of mine!"

"So you know my cousin," I asked.

"Know him!" Captain Bates guffawed. "E's practically family! Come on then, I'll take ye to 'im."

He led me from the beach into Mineral Town. I noticed with surprise how large the town was compared to Forget Me Not Valley, and how happy everyone seemed. I passed two farms, but was told that neither belonged to his cousin. One was principally for livestock, and the other for chickens. Captain Bates led me past both of these until he brought me to a large, well developed farm.

"Welcome young sir," the captain said, "to Happy Farm!"

"Happy Farm?"

"Aye," Captain Bates said. "This here's been yer cousin's farm for about one and a half years."

I looked around at the large farm, its fields filled with crops, and a nice chicken house and a barn, both looking brand new.

"I'll go get the Missus Chandrata," the captain grinned.

"Mrs?" I looked up, remembering that I'd heard my cousin had married.

Captain Bates walked over to the house and banged on the door.

"Oh Missus Zach Chandrata?" he called out.

"Missus ANN Chandrata!" a female voice called from inside.

The captain chuckled as the door opened and a beautiful red haired, freckle faced girl glared out at him. She was dressed in blue overalls with an orange shirt and bare feet.

"Yeah," Captain Bates said. "I knew that m'dear."

The girl's frown turned into a smile, and she laughed.

"Its good to see you again Joe," she said, as the two of them hugged.

"Missus Ann," the captain said, turning to me, "I'd like yew tah meet Josh. 'E says e's yer husband's cousin."

The girl smiled and walked over to me.

"I'm Ann Chandrata," she said. "You must be my new inlaw."

I smiled shyly and held out a hand. Zach was definitely lucky to have found a girl this pretty to spend his life with.

"Nice to meet you," I said as we shook hands. "But where is Zach?"

"Oh," Ann smiled. "He's in the barn taking care of the new cow."

"I need to see him," I said.

"Zach!" Ann turned and shouted at the barn.

Within a couple seconds the door opened and a tall brown haired man with piercing eyes and a huge smile stepped out. There was no doubt about it, it was my cousin. I smiled.

"Hey Zach!" I shouted.

"Josh?" he walked up, smiling. "You didn't tell me you were coming to visit!"

"Of course not," I said grinning. "Wouldn't want to ruin the surprise."

We hugged each other.

"Glad to see you've already met my beautiful wife," Zach said, putting and arm around Ann.

Ann smiled, and gazed lovingly up at the farmer.

"Yeah," I gazed out over his fields. "I see you've been productive."

"You can say that again," Zach threw a wink at his wife.

"Let me guess," I looked back. "How many kids do you have?"

"None," Zach smiled. "Not yet. We just got back from our honeymoon a week ago. Not planning on having kids for a while yet."

"I'm sorry I couldn't come to your wedding," I said. "My father just died, and I had to fix up all his affairs."

Ann gasped, and threw me a sympathetic look.

"I'm so sorry..." she said.

I shook my head.

"Its okay," I turned away from her. "I didn't even know the man anyways."

Zach threw a look at her as if to tell her not to touch that subject.

"Well I'd hate to see you come all this way without a proper dinner," Zach said, trying to brighten up the mood. "So Ann, is dinner ready yet?"

He put his arm on her shoulder. Ann grinned playfully at her husband and took his hand in hers.

"Yup," she said.

"Great," he planted a kiss on her lips before walking towards the house.

"Meatloaf," Ann said, "mashed potatoes and baked veggies."

Upon hearing that some of his favorite foods were for dinner Zach stopped, ran back over to Ann and gave her another kiss, before sweeping her off her feet and carrying her towards the house. She giggled and nodded for me to follow.

"Care to join us for dinner Captain?" Zach looked at Joe Bates.

"Sorry," the captain apologized, "can't. I gotta head out again. Nice meeting you Josh."

I nodded at Captain Bates as he left before following Zach and Ann inside their house.

Nami trudged back to the inn at about seven o'clock at night.

"Where've you been young lady?" Ruby asked, smiling broadly as she entered. "You missed dinner."

"Its alright," Nami said, "I grabbed some food at the Blue Bar."

Cliff walked in behind her.

"Ah," Ruby said. "I see you've met Cliff."

Cliff smiled faintly and nodded.

"He came from Mineral Island," Nami said.

"Really!" Ruby went on rambling to the two of them for a while.

But finally Cliff and Nami were able to excuse themselves, and head up to their rooms for bed. It wasn't like Nami to go to bed so early, but Ruby didn't question it.

"So Zach says you're a farmer too," Ann said to me over dinner.

I nodded, and ate another bite of meatloaf.

"My farm's called Shadow Ranch," I said. "Its quite a bit different than this farm."

"Happy Farm," Ann giggled. "I still don't think I'll ever get used to that name."

She shot a glance at Zach.

"What?" he said playfully. "I couldn't think of anything else!"

Ann smiled at her husband and looked back at me. We chatted for a while before stepping outside to gaze at the stars.

"Summer's coming," Zach said. "I always raise Pineapples during the summer, because they always earn high profits. Can you grow Pineapples at your ranch?"

"I don't think so," I responded. "So far I've mostly grown tomatoes and Turnips."

"Do you like living in the Aprachi Islands?" Ann asked.

I nodded.

"I tell you," Zach said, leaning back in his lawn chair as he gazed up at the stars, "I've never smelled fresher air anywhere else in the world. There aren't the factories and automobiles like in the city. Of course I do miss driving."

"The night sky is beautiful too," I said, gazing up at all the stars.

"Oh yeah," Zach agreed. "A couple months ago I couldn't just sit outside at night and watch the..."

Then he stopped, and shut his mouth.

"I'm gonna go wash the dishes," Ann said, standing up and walking towards the house.

Zach smiled at her as she walked inside.

"I'm happy for you," I said. "Married to the girl of your dreams and with a farm this successful."

Zach just nodded.

"Its been hard work," he explained, "but Ann has made it all worthwhile. She's been wonderful."

I gazed up at the dark sky, filled to the brim with stars.

"There's something I need to talk with you about," I said. "Do you know of a man named Cliff?"

That got his attention.

"What do you know about Cliff?" he said almost desperately.

"Well..." I struggled for words. "He's come to Forget Me Not Valley."

"Oh..." Zach looked up at the sky again. "Cliff was never really the same after..."

"After what?" I looked up at him again.

"I don't know if you'll want to listen to this," Zach began.

"Zach," I interrupted. "I need you to tell me everything that happened here on Mineral Island. You want to know why? Within the past month a new cult has arisen out of nowhere on Forget Me Not Island. My father died an unexplainable death. I was attacked by some supernatural force. And now a killer is running loose. Cliff says that similar events occurred here. Now I need you to tell me what the heck is going on."

Zach just looked at me for a while, his features turning grave, and almost fearful. Then finally, he spoke.

"When I first moved here," Zach began, "I found that the town was gripped in the hold of some sort of religion. A religion involving a Goddess, and several Spirits of the Island. I of course did not believe in it. But then I found a note on my desk left behind by my Grandfather. A warning. It spoke of a great evil which lived in the forest, and in the mountains. It also contained a warning no to underestimate the evil, and to never go outside at night. The first night I did go outside I was attacked by some spirit, some demon. Ann saved my life."

I watched him as he related to me his tale.

"It was not a Goddess," he explained. "It was a demon. A fallen Angel, one of the third which had followed Lucifer at the beginning and fallen from heaven. You may not believe in this stuff as I do, but I do know that what I fought against was no good spirit."

He told me a story, a dark story of evil spirits, a satanic sorcerer, and a plan to plunge Mineral Island into darkness. And then, he spoke of a climactic struggle where his soul was wagered against the soul of a powerful demon. And how in the end the Harvest Goddess had been cast down from the top of Mother's Hill into the sea below.

"The Angel Tarana said that since the Right Hand had been defeated then the Goddess would not be able to return here ever again, for now the island was under the protection of the Angels."

"And you think that what we are experiencing in Forget Me Not Valley is the cause of a demon left over from the Harvest Goddess' forces?"

Zach just nodded.

"Did the Spirit ever tell you what its name is?" he asked.

"Yes," I replied. "It called itself the Great Spirit Thandrana."

Zach looked up suddenly.

"That was the true name of the Harvest Goddess!" he shouted in realization.

"But what does she want with our island?" I asked.

"Probably she wants what she had here on Mineral Island," Zach said. "She wants the power that she once had, or she seeks to recreate the old Goddess Religion somewhere else. Be very careful. The only way you can fight Thandrana is if you wield the powers of Christ."

I rolled my eyes.

"You of all people know that I do not believe in that," I said.

"But you can't deny that which is happening on your island," he replied. "Soon you, or someone else will have to face it. And you must be ready."

He then turned and looked back up at the stars.

"I think I'll go help Ann with the dishes," with that, he stood up and walked back to the house, leaving me alone outside.

When Celia awoke it was already late at night. Slowly, she drew herself up from her bed and glanced out her window, wondering how long it had been since she had fallen unconscious. Celia opened her bedroom door slowly, to find Marlin leaning against the wall beside it with a gun in one hand and a walking stick in the other. Celia smiled, realizing that he had been guarding her during the night. But he was asleep, so Celia drew by him quietly so as not to wake him up. She walked downstairs slowly to grab a glass of warm milk. After sleeping for who knows how long she would need all the help she could get sleeping tonight. She walked down the steps quietly, but stopped when she saw Vesta sitting in the family room, cross legged on the floor.

"Vesta?" Celia walked over towards her.

Vesta stirred slightly, and her lips moved slowly, but her eyes stayed shut.

"Vesta?" Celia touched her shoulder gently.

Slowly Vesta's eyes opened.

"What are you doing awake at this time of the night..." Vesta looked up at Celia with bloodshot eyes, causing her heart to start pounding.

"I... Weren't you wondering if..."

"Go to bed," Vesta said in a voice that was not her own.

"Vesta?"

There was something in Vesta's eyes that wasn't right.

"Go to bed!" she roared.

Celia jumped backwards, before dashing back up the stairs. Vesta watched her go, smiled slightly at the shear meanness of it, before closing her eyes again.

_'The world is changing.'_

Nami stirred in her sleep, but did not wake up.

_'You have a debt to pay Nami.'_

At the sound of her name the sleeping redhead's eyes opened slowly.

_'In exchange for your life you owe us something.'_

Nami's eyes widened, and she tried to sit up, but she found that she couldn't move.

_'You owe her your services.'_

Nami struggled to move, but only succeeded in twitching slightly.

_'Tomorrow night I will take you.'_

She felt something cold and icy wrap around her throat, cutting off her breath and the flow of blood to her head. Then it released her, the presence left, and she lay there awake in her bed. Her stiff, cold joints pained her when she moved them, as if something had lodged itself within her.

Slowly she staggered to her feet, and crawled down the stairs to the kitchen. When she arrived she found Cliff standing by the counter, with a glass of some sort of liquor in his hand. He raised it up to drink, but stopped when he saw her.

"What are you doing?" Nami asked.

Cliff set the glass down.

"I couldn't sleep," he said. "Could you?"

"No," Nami said.

Cliff took the glass and chugged it, before slamming it back down on the table and squinting his eyes as the strong alcohol shot into his system. Nami caught a wiff of the whiskey and wrinkled her nose in disgust.

"Are you drunk?" she asked.

"Not yet," Cliff said. "But I'm working on it."

He opened the fridge to get the bottle.

"Kind of late to be getting drunk," Nami said.

"Not for me," Cliff poured himself another glass.

"Since you're awake," Nami said, "could you help me with something?"

Cliff shut the fridge and turned back to her.

"I suppose..." he replied.

"Great," Nami smiled. "Lets go to the swamp then."

She reached into a drawer and drew forth a few things which she thought might come in handy. Then Cliff and her walked out the door. The swamp loomed before them, its waters rippling quietly.

"Why do you want to go to the swamp?" Cliff asked.

"Because something isn't right about the swamp," Nami explained. "And I need to understand what exactly it is."

The two of them walked to the edge of the swamp, and hesitantly looked down into the waters. The sky was dark, and thunder rumbled in the distance. Every now and then the sky was lit up by a bolt of lightning.

"Looks normal to me," Cliff said.

"Quiet!" Nami shushed him, looking and listening quietly for anything.

Suddenly a the leaves from a tree above them began to rustle quietly, but there was no wind.

"What's going on?" Cliff asked as the air around them began to crackle as if with electricity.

Nami drew the tiny light bulb and the two wires out of her pocket slowly.

"What are those?" Cliff asked.

"I got them in a science experiment kit when I was a kid," Nami explained. "You could hook the light bulb to a lemon with these two wires and make it light up."

Nami hooked one wire to one side of the bulb and stuck it in the water. She took the other wire and hooked it onto the other side of the light bulb.

"I've heard that Spirits often send out electrical signals."

"Spirit?" Cliff looked very disturbed.

"Where should I stick the other wire?" Nami asked.

"Um..." Cliff looked around. "To the tree maybe?"

Nami attached the wire, set the light bulb down, and waited. Then, suddenly the tiny filament began glowing faintly with electrical energy. It was only a faint light, but it was enough to make Cliff and Nami draw back almost in fear.

"It worked," Nami whispered.

Cliff nodded.

"Lets try it on the other side," he suggested. "Except this time lets hook it into the ground instead of to the tree.

Nami nodded, and proceeded to do this. She left one wire stuck in the water, and then shoved the other through the loose dirt and then closed the clamp. The light bulb suddenly filled up quickly with light, nearly blinding Nami and Cliff with the intensity of it before exploding violently. The swamp waters lit up as electricity shot through them. Nami and Cliff both leapt backwards, as shards of glass shot out everywhere on the ground. For a while they just sat there, clutching tightly to each other as if afraid that a mighty spirit would appear before them.

"What happened?" Cliff asked, removing his hands from Nami's arm embarrassed.

Nami just sat there wide eyed. Then out of the corner of her eye she saw Daryl's house. The lights were flashing on and off before they finally failed completely. His door swung open and the Scientist stood there, his face looking very very annoyed. He walked over to them slowly, breathing heavily, as if seething on the inside.

"Whose messing with my electric wiring!"

"What?" Nami looked up at him.

"My electric wiring! I ran an electric wire through the ground through here for my lightning experiment!"

Nami sheepishly looked down in the ground where she saw that she had accidentally hooked the wire to another wire.

"Oops," Nami said.

"What's that mean 'oops?'" Daryl looked at the ground. "Now how am I going to get a lightning bolt into my house?"

Suddenly as if to prove that God did in fact have a sense of humor, a bolt of lightning shot down from the sky and into Daryl's open window.

"Aaauugghh!" he shrieked, leaping up to his feet. "The... the uh... the lightning bolt... it..."

Then the lights in his house started working again.

"Is it just me," Daryl began, "or did the bolt of lightning hit my circuitry in the right place to send enough electricity into the house to power my power plant and power my house? Yes!"

He leapt back to his feet and did a little dance while running around in a circle.

"My experiment is a success!" he then dashed off towards his house.

Nami and Cliff just looked at each other.


	14. Chapter 13 The Tremors of Night

**Chapter 13 The Tremors of Night**

_**Once again I'm sorry for the delay, been having writer's block in this story recently. Just watched the movie "The Visitation," a film version of a book by Frank Peretti, who is my inspiration for writing supernatural thrillers.**_

Sleep did not bring any safety from the outside world. Evil spirits penetrated through the warm confines of unconsciousness and struck at the very soul. Cliff was not safe from the voices of the past, speaking to him through closed lips, voices radiating from out of the very darkness. He could feel a dark presence surrounding him as he kept his eyes shut against the darkness that waited outside. But a cold hand was wrapped around his neck, and an evil voice whispered in his ear, telling him tales of nightmares, ancient shadows stretching over a dying land.

The next morning Vesta was gone again. Marlin still sat by Celia's door when she finally awoke. He was overjoyed to see that she was okay.

"Where is Vesta?" Celia asked.

Marlin lowered his eyes and looked at the ground.

"In town..." he said.

"The cult?" Celia looked up at him.

Marlin just nodded.

"I think we should pray for her," Celia suggested.

Marlin shook his head and turned his back.

"We're not of the same religion..."

"What?" Celia looked up at him in surprise. "You're Catholic, that means that you are Christian too."

"There is only one true Church of God," Marlin said. "That is the Pope's Church."

Celia looked at him before turning for the door.

"Where are you going?" Marlin asked, rising to his feet.

"I need to find Josh," Celia said. "I have to warn him about..."

"Josh isn't here," Marlin said. "He left for Mineral Island."

Celia looked back at Marlin.

"Have you spoken to anyone else in town about the killer?" she asked.

Marlin shook his head.

"Then we need to get moving," Celia continued. "The townspeople need to be warned."

That following morning I packed my few belongings and made my way to the beach to take the ferry back to Forget Me Not Valley. Zach followed me to the pier to say goodbye.

"Be careful," he said. "Don't doubt the power of Thandrana. But never trust her."

I nodded, before stepping on board.

"Why don't you just come with me and defeat the spirit the same way you defeated her before?" I asked.

"Its not my job," Zach explained. "I've thought about this, but every time I do God tells me not to. The battle is for you and the other islanders, Mineral Island has already chosen its side. Now its your turn."

The boat pulled away from shore and I waved back at my cousin as he disappeared into the distance.

"Flora! Come look at this!" Carter shouted from inside the dig site.

His assistant immediately ran down the steps to the archaeological dig. Carter stood over the fossil of a dead man.

"Can you believe this?" he exclaimed. "This is a very rare find. A fossilized stone age man."

"Perhaps the Spirit was right when she said she'd bless those who kept her flower," Flora smiled at the Scientist.

Carter leaned forward and kissed her on the lips.

"Apparently yes," he said, pulling her to him.

They continued kissing before taking it back inside their tent. Daryl watched them walk into the tent, silently fuming inside.

"Carter," he fumed, "you are too lucky to live with a girl like Flora."

The angry scientist stood up slowly and marched back in the direction of the town. He walked into the Blue Bar and ordered a beer. Muffy walked into the back to carry out his order. In the corner Wally and Griffin were playing a game of pool. He could only hear snatches of their conversation, but he knew they were talking about the Spirit.

Muffy returned with his drink, and Daryl began to drink quietly. Off in his own little world he didn't notice when a young man sat down next to him and ordered a bottle of whiskey. Daryl fumed silently within himself. He fumed for the unsuccessful experiments, for the nights spent alone wondering where his life was going. But most of all he fumed that such a pompous man as Professor Carter had more success than he did. It just wasn't fair. From across the table he caught Galen's eye, but looked away. Galen, as if guided by a mysterious force, walked over and sat down on the other side of Daryl, and continued staring at him.

"What do you want," Daryl finally spoke, meeting Galen's gaze.

"Why do you spend your nights alone?" Galen asked. "Why do you spend your time under a false guise of eccentricity?"

Daryl looked away. Weird questions for a cult leader.

"Do you always ask questions like that?" Daryl asked unpleasantly.

"Thandrana has a way of looking out for those who follow her," Galen continued. "You wonder why Carter is successful and you aren't. Because he has been blessed by Thandrana. You were never at the ceremony to accept a flower."

Galen drew his hand out of his pocket, and revealed a flower he had hidden there. Daryl just stared at it.

"You're saying a flower will solve all my problems? I think you've been spending too much time here at the bar."

"Don't you want to spend your nights lying beside someone?" Galen baited him quietly. "Don't you want you're experiments to succeed? Thandrana can help with all this."

"So you're trying to bribe me," Daryl refused to take the bait. "Then what's your Goddess going to do? Force Flora to ditch Carter? Make my experiments work? I don't think so."

The boy beside him looked up, nervously, and stood to leave. Galen's eyes were on him in an instant.

"Stop," Galen said.

The boy quickened his pace.

"Stop!" Galen rose to his feet.

The boy stopped, and turned to face him, his eyes filled with fear. Galen focused on him, his eyes squinting suspiciously.

"There's something different about you," Galen said, his eyes probing into Cliff's soul. "Ah. I see that you are not alone."

"Leave me alone!" Cliff protested, drawing back.

Galen kept his gaze riveted, smiling with a faint cruelty behind his lips.

"But you don't want them," he said, "do you?"

Cliff shivered, as if he was unable to move.

"Just leave him alone Galen," Daryl said, rising to his feet.

Suddenly the door opened and Carter and Flora walked in hand in hand. They laughed and chuckled like a couple of teenagers.

"Well look who it is?" Carter said, smirking.

Daryl slumped back into his chair, and focused his attention on his drink. Carter walked over and sat down next to him, but Daryl ignored him.

"Did you know I just dug up a fossil of a stone age man?" Daryl didn't look at the Professor, but he could feel him grinning.

"Why don't you go eat the sediment deposits in the mine?" Daryl said.

Carter chuckled.

"Did you get struck by lightning again Mr. Scientist?"

Daryl looked up at Flora, who stood behind Carter, looking a little disturbed by what he was saying.

"Are you really going out with this son of a..."

"Hey!" Carter said, shoving a finger in Daryl's face. "Watch it man, or you're going to be eating your words."

"At least I study more than just my assistant."

That did it. Carter punched Daryl in the shoulder, sending him sprawling out of his chair. Daryl leaped back to his feet, and faced his opponent. He grabbed a pool rod from the table and twirled it once before catching it and holding it out defensively.

"Do that again and I'll send you're face into the table," Daryl growled.

"Carter..." Flora put a hand on the Professor's shoulder, but he shook it off before grabbing a stool.

"Hey," Griffin stepped forward. "Don't be starting a fight in my bar."

Griffin stepped between them. Big mistake, Carter's eyes lit up and he swung his stool. The blow sent the bartender crashing into the wall where he fell to the floor unconscious. Carter then swung the stool at Daryl, who caught the blow against his pool rod. Carter drew the stool back, and struck again. Daryl leaped backward, behind a table, and shoved it forward where it crashed into Carter's chest. The Professor tumbled backwards, knocking over several chairs. Daryl leaped forward and swung the rod down upon the Professor's stomach, winding him.

"I thought..." Carter struggled to breath as he rose to his feet.. "That you... were going to... send my... face into the... the table..."

"Oh yeah," Daryl said. "I did say that, didn't I?"

Daryl was on him like a fox, twisting his arm behind his back and slamming his face down onto the bar. Carter groaned, as Daryl tightened the police hold.

"Stop it!" Flora demanded. "You are acting like animals!"

Daryl looked up at her, before releasing Carter. Then he turned, and walked out of the bar. Carter looked up at Flora, only to see her eyes filled with confusion, and even a little anger.

"What were you doing?" she demanded. "I've never seen you so... what came over you?"

"I don't..." Carter stuttered. "I don't know... I just had to... had to hit him..."

Flora knelt beside Griffin and checked his pulse and his breathing. He was okay, just unconscious.

It was nighttime when I arrived back in Forget Me Not Valley. Mr. Hancock and the Harvest Sprite had had a wonderful time in Mineral Town, chasing chickens at the chicken farm. Apparently a pink haired woman had chased them away. Anyways, they scampered off quickly, leaving me standing on the beach by the swamp. Captain Bates had decided to drop me off right on shore instead of at the Port, for it was late at night and I wouldn't find lodgings there. I ventured a fearful gaze over at the Swamp, before making my way away from it. Celia stood over by the edge of the swamp, as if she'd been waiting for me.

"Celia?" My smile faded when I saw her fearful look.

"Josh," she said. "There's a killer on the loose. It isn't safe outside at night."

"Then why are you out?" I asked, walking up to her.

"To warn you," she explained.

"Well I already knew that a killer was on the loose," I said. "But its great to see that you're okay."

Celia smiled slightly, a faint blush rising on her cheeks.

"Celia..." I tried to put what I was thinking into words. "Have you... made a decision about..."

Celia looked away.

"I... I don't know Josh," she explained. "My parents want me to meet the boy they've picked out, so could you at least wait until then for an answer?"

I smiled slightly, and nodded. At least now we had a time in mind.

"Come on," I said. "We'd better go home."

I offered her my hand, and she took it, her cheeks burning. I looked behind us at the swamp as we walked up back towards the town. I couldn't shake the ominous feeling, the thought that forces beyond our control were stalking us through the darkness. I couldn't shake the feeling of impending dread.

_'The Darkness has you...'_

Celia gasped suddenly, and turned to me.

"What?" I asked. "What is it?"

"Did you hear it?" she asked.

"Hear what?" I looked around uncertainly.

_'The Darkness wants you...'_

Celia grabbed my arm with her other hand.

"We've got to get out of here. We've go-"

Suddenly her eyes widened and her mouth shot open, as if she was trying to scream, but couldn't.

"Celia?" I put both hands on her shoulders and shook her. "Celia!"

Then she screamed, her scream rising above the swamp as if the very power of hell was rising. Then I felt it too. A cold, decayed hand grabbed ahold of my neck, and began choking me. I gasped, and tried to tear the hand from my neck, but I felt nothing there.

_'All your worst nightmares...'_

This time I heard the dark voice.

_'...are about to come true...'_

Something took ahold of Celia, and began dragging her away.

"Celia..." I moaned, as blackness took ahold of me and I lapsed into unconsciousness.

Celia screamed as she felt decayed hands grabbing her everywhere, grabbing ahold of her neck and strangling her. She screamed loudly and fought against them, tearing herself away from them. But each time more and more hands grabbed ahold of her.

"Stop it!" she shouted. "Stop it!"

The hands drew back suddenly, allowing Celia to pull herself away from them. When she looked back the hands were gone, as if they had not been there at all. But suddenly the dirt on the ground in front of the swamp began rising up from it and merging together. Celia's eyes widened as the figure of a man appeared, its dirt skin packed and sculpted as if a master had made it. Its large hands suddenly began flexing open and closed, with fingers looking strong enough to wring her neck.

Then its eyes flashed open, and Celia found herself staring into empty pools of neon green light. They were so demonic, so lifeless, and then the creature's mouth opened slowly, revealing hard stones which served as its teeth. Then with a bloodthirsty cry, it charged towards her. Celia turned and ran back in the direction of Vesta's farm, but the mighty beast charged after her.

_'Lock the doors...'_

Vesta's eyes shot open as she heard the voices speaking to her once again.

_'Lock the doors...'_

"Vesta?" she looked up to see Marlin standing at the top of the stairs.

"What is it?" she asked.

"Did I tell you that there is... there's a killer on the loose?"

"No," Vesta's eyes widened.

No wonder the voices told her to lock the doors.

"Thank you Marlin," she said, before standing up to do as she was commanded.

"Vesta! Marlin!"

Celia ran to the door, and yanked on the knob, expecting the door to swing open, but it was locked fast.

"No!" she shouted, and began pounding her fists against it.

_'No? I say yes.'_

Celia whirled around as the dirt demon charged after her, its neon green eyes glowing in the darkness as it wailed an unearthly call. Celia looked around for a weapon, all the while praying desperately.

_'Oh God help me... help me... help me God... help me God...'_

Celia then glanced to her right, and saw an axe lying on the ground by the tool shed. Marlin must have carelessly left it lying around. Without a word she dove for it. The clay manikin increased its pace. Celia, now wielding the axe, turned to face the possessed creature. The beast leaped. Celia swung the axe. The blow connected with the creature's left arm, hacking it off of its body. The manikin did not react, and immediately swung its right arm, scratching Celia across the left side of her face. Her hand flew up to it, surprised that such a creature could damage her with clay hands.

Celia swung the axe again, this time plunging it into the creature's stomach. The axe tore through the clay, but when Celia looked up at the clay figure's face to find it grinning wickedly at her. In one motion, it tore the axe out of its stomach, and then swung it at Celia's neck. The farm girl leapt backward, and the axe plunged into the side of the tool shed. Celia immediately ran for the hill, hoping to escape to the port. But she knew that it was unlikely that anyone would be there, for the port was rather small, and only three or four sea captains visited it during the day.

The clay figure chased after her, swinging the axe around violently before launching it at her head. Celia threw herself to the ground and the weapon plunged into the side of the hill. Then she heard a gunshot, and a bullet pierced the manikin's shoulder. The creature turned, and shrieked as it was struck by a bullet in the stomach, the chest, the neck, the head. Marlin stood below, firing off a rifle at the beast. Bullets riddled the creature, but seemed to have no effect. The clay demon launched itself towards him, wailing like a banshee as more bullets pierced its dirt flesh. The rifle clicked twice as Marlin pulled the trigger. Empty.

Celia seized the opportunity, and grabbed the fallen axe. Running up behind the beast, she swung the axe, and decapitated the manikin in a single motion. The body then stumbled forward, unable to see where it was going. This gave Marlin enough time to insert another round into his weapon and fire a blast straight through the creature's heart. Suddenly the head began to wail, and the body fell backwards and went into convulsions. Then the light left its eyes and both pieces of the clay figure lay still.

_'Tomorrow night I will take you.'_

Nami rolled back and forth in her bed, breathing heavily as she suffered through the dark images that flashed through her mind as she struggled. A dark presence set upon her slowly, causing her to shout in her sleep. In the room across from hers Cliff awoke.

_'Let me in! Let me in!'_

Nami shrieked and arched her head back as a dark power launched itself upon her, shoving her way back to the dark corners of her mine. Nami struggled to maintain control of her body, but the demon pushed her further back, trapping her with dark and frightening images. Suddenly she lost all control. Then, slowly the demon forced her body to rise up from her bed and walk towards the door.

When she opened it she was surprised to find Cliff standing there. He opened his mouth to speak, but the demon didn't give him time. It immediately shoved him away, sending him backwards into the wall. Cliff banged his head painfully and tumbled to the ground. When he looked back up into Nami's eyes he found himself staring into empty pools of darkness.

"Oh... my... gosh..." he gasped as Nami smiled cruelly.

Then her eyes flashed demonically and she turned for the stairs.


End file.
